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• treasury
  treasury

  noun

  a place where the funds of the government, of a corporation, or the like are deposited, kept, and disbursed.
• Treasury
  Treasury

  noun

  (in various countries) the government department in charge of finance. In Britain the Treasury is also responsible for economic strategy

treasury

American  

[trezh-uh-ree] / ˈtrɛʒ ə ri /

noun

• treasuries
  plural

1. a place where the funds of the government, of a corporation, or the like are deposited, kept, and disbursed.

2. funds or revenue of a government, public or private corporation, etc.

3. (initial capital letter) the department of government that has control over the collection, management, and disbursement of the public revenue.

4. a building, room, chest, or other place for the preservation of treasure or valuable objects.

5. a collection or supply of excellent or highly prized writings, works of art, etc..

   a treasury of American poetry.

6. Informal. Treasuries, Treasury bills, bonds, and notes.

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treasury ¹ British  

/ ˈtrɛʒərɪ /

noun

1. a storage place for treasure

2. the revenues or funds of a government, private organization, or individual

3. a place where funds are kept and disbursed

4. Also: treasure house.  a collection or source of valuable items

   a treasury of information

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Treasury ² British  

/ ˈtrɛʒərɪ /

noun

1. (in various countries) the government department in charge of finance. In Britain the Treasury is also responsible for economic strategy

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• treasuries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of treasury

1250–1300; Middle English tresorie < Old French. See treasure, -y ³

Explanation

A treasury is a kind of bank — it's a place where money and other valuable things are kept, or where a country keeps its wealth. You might guess that a treasury is a place to keep your treasure, and you'd be right. Originally, the word literally meant "room for treasure," from the Old French tresor, "hoard or treasure." Starting in the late 1300s, it also meant "department that controls public revenue," which remains the most common use of treasury today. The U.S. even has an official Department of the Treasury, the part of the executive branch that prints money and collects taxes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

treasury Treasury treasuries

However, in addition to the overall cost to the US treasury, the latest offer from the US president may raise legal questions.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

“Whenever people say, ‘oh, well, the treasury secretary is taking a risk,’ well, it’s my dream.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Lord O'Neill, a crossbench peer, was once a treasury minister under the Conservatives.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

In recent months, the fund hired more experienced executives to run areas such as compliance, investor relations and finance, including Sven Khatri, a former treasury researcher at Citadel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Well, when my father got through with that sentence where the wedding was sandwiched between the ministers’ meeting and the treasury whatever, I said, ‘You read that wrong.’

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

Treasury authorities sent warnings to the bank to stop, the people said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

The paper says investors have signalled that the gilt market "would not be spooked" by a more modest target, adding that the Treasury and Number 10 are "actively debating" the possibility.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

In recent days, Krinsky has warned clients about what he sees as a growing triple threat: weak stock-market breadth, rising credit spreads and rising nominal Treasury yields.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Xi's arrival in Washington coincided with US Treasury Scott Bessent announcing that the superpowers had agreed to extend a trade truce by two months.

From Barron's

Washington Mutual followed, and was unceremoniously seized by the Treasury, wiping out both its creditors and its shareholders entirely.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Investors haven’t seen stocks and treasuries move more in sync in nearly 30 years.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

What we’re seeing now is like a silent IPO: early, oversized holders distributing to a much broader base of buyers who came in through ETFs, brokerages and corporate treasuries.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 17, 2025

The frenzy around crypto treasuries further boosted token prices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025

The activity implied that treasuries may have lost their glow, or that the stock market collapse had produced untenable losses among Wall Street traders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025

The authorities both local and national had to spend every penny in their treasuries and every second of time in the sole task of dealing with the chaos.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• bank
• coffer
• exchequer