legal tender

noun

Definition of legal tendernext
as in cash
something (as pieces of stamped metal or printed paper) customarily and legally used as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment coins and bills are considered legal tender, but postage stamps are not

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of legal tender There are also four bills from the 2025 legislative session that become law on Wednesday, including one to designate gold and silver as legal tender. — Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 25 June 2026 In 1926, the nation’s 150th anniversary, then-President Calvin Coolidge appeared on a commemorative half-dollar coin that was official legal tender. — Bill Barrow, Fortune, 29 May 2026 As the world’s first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador has positioned itself as a hub for crypto-curious travelers, with digital wallets operating alongside its low-density tourism. — Angelika Pokovba, Travel + Leisure, 26 May 2026 The mislabeling of President Andrew Jackson’s portrait is just one of the telltale signs signifying that some bills getting passed around in Greater Boston are movie props and not legal tender. — Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 24 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for legal tender
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legal tender
  1. cash
  2. money
  3. coin
  4. currency
  5. bucks
Noun
  • The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 from Artemis Rising Foundation.
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Offer is nontransferable, subject to availability, and has no cash value.
    — The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of cash
Noun
  • Celebrity has always been commercial, and famous people have always converted attention into money.
    — Laura Jung, Vogue, 25 Aug. 2026
  • For one, California’s program has that annual cap on the total amount of money that can be awarded as production incentives, a limit that does not exist in other states and countries.
    — Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of money
Noun
  • The study said the object, which left a greenish discoloration on her palate, was unlikely to be a coin, as the proportions of copper to gold did not correspond to those found in historical alloys.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Assuming 20 million coins in circulation, this would imply that one bitcoin would be priced at approximately $50 million.
    — Dave Birnbaum, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of coin
Noun
  • Alpha Binwani Capital's founder Ashwin Binwani said institutional investors remained positioned in carry trades against a basket of G10 currencies, led by the Australian dollar.
    — Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The suspect in a 2022 homicide believed there was a large amount of currency hidden in a chicken stand on Foothill Boulevard, but killed a man only to make off with a paltry $110, according to police.
    — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of currency
Noun
  • Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Pole dancers bookend him and are showered with Usher bucks, his prop cash.
    — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of bucks

Browse Nearby Words

legally
legal tender
legate
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Legal tender.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legal%20tender. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

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