million

views updated Jun 11 2018

mil·lion / ˈmilyən/ • cardinal number (pl. -lions or (with numeral or quantifying word) same) (a/one million) the number equivalent to the product of a thousand and a thousand; 1,000,000 or 106: a million people will benefit a population of half a million a cost of more than $20 million. ∎  (millions) the numbers from a million to a billion. ∎  (millions) several million things or people: millions of TV viewers. ∎ inf. an unspecified but very large number or amount of something: I've got millions of beer bottles in my cellar you're one in a million. ∎  (the millions) the bulk of the population: movies for the millions. ∎  a million dollars: the author is set to make millions.PHRASES: look (or feel) (like) a million dollars inf. (of a person) look or feel extremely good.DERIVATIVES: mil·lion·fold / -ˌfōld/ adj. & adv.mil·lionth / -yən[unvoicedth]/ ordinal number .ORIGIN: late Middle English: from Old French, probably from Italian milione, from mille ‘thousand’ + the augmentative suffix -one.

million

views updated Jun 27 2018

million a thousand thousands XIV; the multitude XVII. — (O)F. million, prob. — It. † millione, now milione, f. mille thousand + augm. suffix -one.
So millionaire XIX. — F. millionnaire.