million

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noun mil·lion \ ˈmi(l)-yən \

Definition of million

plural millions or million

1 :a number equal to 1,000 times 1,000 — see Table of Numbers

2 :a very large number

millions of cars on the road

3 :the mass of common people —used with the

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million

adjective

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millionfold

play \-ˌfōld\ adverb or adjective

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millionth

play \ˈmi(l)-yən(t)th\ adjective or noun

See million defined for English-language learners

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Recent Examples of million from the Web

Millions of young people were shipped from cities to the countryside to work on farms.

— amy qin, New York Times, "When Self-Criticism Was an Order, These Portraits Were Revolutionary," 19 Aug. 2017
Millions of people out there are going to be looking out at it …

— madeleine aggeler, The Cut, "This Man Makes a Solid Case for Avoiding the Eclipse," 17 Aug. 2017
Millions of robots can share this brain and train and learn together.

— bill huang, Scientific American Blog Network, "Robots with Their Heads in the Clouds," 2 Aug. 2017
Millions of American workers are frozen out of their companies' pension plans.

— ben steverman, Bloomberg.com, "Older Americans Aren’t as Poor as We Thought," 1 Aug. 2017
Millions of Americans grew up calling a local telephone number to find out the time and temperature — and, believe it or not, a fair number of folks still do.

— gordon dickson, star-telegram, "Remember how your grandparents got time and temp? It’s making a comeback.," 28 July 2017
Millions of viewers, and solo-Rolling-Stone-cover popular.

— yohana desta, HWD, "G.T.L. for Life: Jersey Shore Set for a Reunion Series at E!," 14 July 2017
Mr. Sater had helped the family of Viktor Khrapunov, a former Kazakh minister now exiled in Switzerland, invest millions in US real estate through front companies.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Principled conservatives show federalism is more than a talking point by rejecting voter data requests," 6 July 2017
Millions of veterans’ prescription records were examined across an average of nearly six years for the study.

— bradley j. fikes, chicagotribune.com, "Popular stomach acid blockers linked to higher death rates," 3 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'million.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of million

Middle English milioun, from Middle French milion, from Old Italian milione, augmentative of mille thousand, from Latin

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First Known Use: 14th century

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MILLION Defined for English Language Learners

million

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noun

Definition of million for English Language Learners

: the number 1,000,000
: a very large amount or number

MILLION Defined for Kids

million

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noun mil·lion \ ˈmil-yən \

Definition of million for Students

1 :one thousand thousands :1,000,000

2 :a very large number

millions of mosquitoes

million

adjective

Definition of million for Students

1 :being 1,000,000

a million dollars

2 :being very great in number

a million questions

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See words that rhyme with million Spanish Central: Translation of million Nglish: Translation of million for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of million for Arabic speakers

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Definition of million

million

millionfold

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