million

noun

mil·​lion ˈmi(l)-yən 

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

million adjective

millionfold

ˈmi(l)-yən-ˌfōld 

adverb or adjective

millionth

ˈmi(l)-yən(t)th 

adjective or noun

Synonyms

• commoners
• commons
• crowd
• herd
• hoi polloi
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• people
• plebeians
• plebs
• populace
• public
• rank and file

Examples of million in a Sentence

intellectuals sneered that television was a medium clearly aimed at the millions

Recent Examples on the Web

SpaceX has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in defense contracts, including a $150-million award for rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. —Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024

There’s hundreds of millions of people that do right now. —Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2024

Incidents like Facebook's 2018 breach, Google+'s API flaw and vulnerabilities affecting Peloton and T-Mobile have exposed millions of users' data. —Meenakshi Panda, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024

Recognizing that a single hospital can generate millions of rows of data daily—with complex dependencies and unique distributions—CareFrame aims to fully utilize this information. —Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 16 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing million

• look/feel like a million dollars/bucks
• never/not in a thousand/million/billion years
• one in a million
• thanks a bunch/lot/million
• thanks a million

Kids Definition

million

noun

mil·​lion ˈmil-yən 

plural millions or million

1

: a number equal to 1,000 times 1,000 see number

2

: a very great number

millions of mosquitoes

million adjective

millionth

-yən(t)th 

adjective or noun