billion

Study(18)

UK /ˈbɪljən/ US /ˈbɪ(l)jən/

num 3

Collocations

ADJ.

direct, earlier, english, half, last

The company spent half a billion dollars on the new manufacturing facility last year.

VERB + BILLION

amounted, calls, contributed, estimated, guaranteed, past, reached, shot

The government estimated the total cost at over two billion dollars for the new infrastructure project.

BILLION + NOUN

beings, castaways, cbs, charity, human, people, tokyo, year

There are nearly eight billion people living on Earth today.

PREP.

from, in, on, with

The company made profits in the billions last year despite the economic downturn.

ADV.

almost, away

The company almost lost a billion dollars when the market crashed last year.

Definitions

num

Either of two large amounts:

At the last assessment it [the national debt] amounts to seven billion pounds (£7,000,000,000).

In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

Either of two large amounts:

n = 1,000,000,000,000, that is, = a billion, or the square of a million

There is a bill to be picked up for cleaning the former Soviet countries of £1 billion. By that I mean a British billion, because when I was little I was told that a billion was a million million and then the Americans said that it was a thousand million. Well, I am talking about a million million pounds worth of clean-up to be done.

An unspecified very large number.

Near-synonyms: gazillion; see also Thesaurus:zillion

There were billions of people at the concert.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — a very large indefinite number (usually hyperbole)

million
trillion
zillion
jillion
gazillion
bazillion

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

Example Bank

At the last assessment it [the national debt] amounts to seven billion pounds (£7,000,000,000).

Wiktionary

However, despite the prospect of HS2 being curtailed and the revelation that the programme is late and billions over budget, for now, at least, work on the scheme appears to be business as usual

Wiktionary

The generous dentist contributed some two billion yen to charity.

Tatoeba · #20306

The plan announced Tuesday calls for $54 billion in tax cuts.

Tatoeba · #23781

The charity is named after a man who gave away some two billion yen.

Tatoeba · #47037

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, billion is marked as dated, US, colloquial. Watch for register when choosing this word.

Your note

not saved

0 chars