billion

numeral

1. 1

   Either of two large amounts: a thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹.

   At the last assessment it [the national debt] amounts to seven billion pounds (£7,000,000,000).

   In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

   However, despite the prospect of HS2 being curtailed and the revelation that the programme is late and billions over budget, for now, at least, work on the scheme appears to be business as usual

   Micron said in a statement that it would bring extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology to Japan, becoming the first semiconductor company to do so, and expected to invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) with support from the Japanese government.

2. 2

   datedEither of two large amounts: A million million (logic: 1,000,000²): a 1 followed by twelve zeros (10¹²); a thousand milliard.

   n = 1,000,000,000,000, that is, = a billion, or the square of a million

   There is a bill to be picked up for cleaning the former Soviet countries of £1 billion. By that I mean a British billion, because when I was little I was told that a billion was a million million and then the Americans said that it was a thousand million. Well, I am talking about a million million pounds worth of clean-up to be done.

3. 3

   An unspecified very large number.

   Near-synonyms: gazillion; see also Thesaurus:zillion

   There were billions of people at the concert.

Forms

plural

billions