billion
noun
Did you know?
How much is a billion? It might depend on whom you ask. Billion was borrowed from French in the late 1600s to indicate the number one million raised to the power of two, or a million million—a number represented by a 1 followed by 12 zeros. However, the French later changed their naming conventions so that a billion became a thousand million (a 1 followed by 9 zeros) and a trillion became a thousand thousand million (or a million million, the old billion). The French have since returned to the older system, but it was this new system that was adopted by American English speakers in the 1800s. In Britain, the newer system has seen increasing use since the 1950s, but the older sense is still sometimes used there as well.
Examples of billion in a Sentence
Gil Press, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025
Now a combination of factors, including the presence of vast deposits of lithium about a mile under the Salton Sea’s bottom, might provide enough impetus for a major reclamation project that is certain to cost several billions of dollars.
—Jorge L. Ortiz, USA Today, 30 Mar. 2025
The law was intended to boost the transition away from fossil fuels with billions of dollars in tax credits and incentives to encourage clean energy projects.
—Lauren Green, The Washington Examiner, 30 Mar. 2025
Congressional Republicans could save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, without risking the threat of Democratic filibuster, by gutting the global warming graft in Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
—Andrew Follett, National Review, 30 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for billion
Cite this Entry
“Billion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share