quintillion
noun
quin·til·lion
kwin-ˈtil-yən 
US
: a number equal to 1 followed by 18 zeros see Table of Numbers
quintillion
adjective
Examples of quintillion in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
While some argue that the costs will always be prohibitive, the riches on offer (Psyche, for example, has been estimated to be worth as much as $10 quintillion) are difficult to ignore.
—
Jason Thomson, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2023
Davida, the seventh largest asteroid in the system, is estimated to contain $27 quintillion ($26,990,000,000,000,000,000) in metals, along with nitrogen, ammonia and hydrogen.
—Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
By comparison, a 64-algorithmic-qubit machine can simultaneously consider more than 264, or 18 quintillion, possibilities.
—Paul Smith-Goodson, Forbes, 17 July 2023
With a deep breath, steady hands and just 3.13 seconds, the 21-year-old solved the colorful mind game with 43 quintillion possible combinations, aligning each side perfectly by color.
—Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2023
Instead, the death of the last star marks the beginning of the degenerate era, the epoch of our universe that will occupy quintillions of years (each quintillion is a billion billion years).
—Popular Mechanics, 7 Mar. 2023
There are 43 quintillion potential ways to arrange the squares but only one solution.
—Roni Dengler, Discover Magazine, 19 July 2019
The first of these, the Aurora supercomputer under development at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, is slated to go online in 2022 and will be able to perform 1 quintillion calculations per second, but several different scientific fields are vying for access to its immense processing power.
—Meghan Herbst, Wired, 4 Jan. 2022
That puts it at a distance of about 200,000 light years, or 2 quintillion (2,000,000,000,000,000,000) kilometers.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 30 Mar. 2011
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Jason Thomson, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2023
Davida, the seventh largest asteroid in the system, is estimated to contain $27 quintillion ($26,990,000,000,000,000,000) in metals, along with nitrogen, ammonia and hydrogen.
—Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
By comparison, a 64-algorithmic-qubit machine can simultaneously consider more than 264, or 18 quintillion, possibilities.
—Paul Smith-Goodson, Forbes, 17 July 2023
With a deep breath, steady hands and just 3.13 seconds, the 21-year-old solved the colorful mind game with 43 quintillion possible combinations, aligning each side perfectly by color.
—Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2023
Instead, the death of the last star marks the beginning of the degenerate era, the epoch of our universe that will occupy quintillions of years (each quintillion is a billion billion years).
—Popular Mechanics, 7 Mar. 2023
There are 43 quintillion potential ways to arrange the squares but only one solution.
—Roni Dengler, Discover Magazine, 19 July 2019
The first of these, the Aurora supercomputer under development at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, is slated to go online in 2022 and will be able to perform 1 quintillion calculations per second, but several different scientific fields are vying for access to its immense processing power.
—Meghan Herbst, Wired, 4 Jan. 2022
That puts it at a distance of about 200,000 light years, or 2 quintillion (2,000,000,000,000,000,000) kilometers.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 30 Mar. 2011
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quintillion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Latin quintus + English -illion (as in million)
First Known Use
circa 1690, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near quintillion
Cite this Entry
“Quintillion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintillion. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
quintillion
noun
quin·til·lion
kwin-ˈtil-yən
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