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 of million

• people
• populace
• public
• crowd
• mass

Examples of million in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

One theory is that English and European voices provide an air of authority, even legitimacy, to a sport which, while embraced by millions in America, is still ‘foreign’, certainly when compared to NFL, baseball and basketball. — Nick Miller, New York Times, 18 July 2026

Given one female blue crab can produce millions of eggs, a population explosion in the lagoons may have been inevitable in the new environment. — Kasha Patel, CNN Money, 18 July 2026

Made false claims of massive fraud of millions of undocumented people voting. — Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 17 July 2026

But after millions of pounds of propellant were loaded into the world's largest rocket and the engine startup sequence had begun, the system triggered an automatic abort of the launch. — Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 17 July 2026

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

Rhymes for million

• billion
• pillion
• trillion
• castilian
• civilian
• cotillion
• pavilion
• postilion
• quadrillion
• reptilian
• vermilion
• vermillion

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