billionaire

American  

[bil-yuh-nair, bil-yuh-nair] / ˌbɪl jəˈnɛər, ˈbɪl jəˌnɛər /

noun

• billionaires
  plural

1. a person who has assets worth a billion or more dollars, euros, etc.

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billionaire British  

/ ˌbɪljəˈnɛə /

noun

1. a person whose assets are worth over a billion of the monetary units of his country

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• billionaires
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of billionaire

First recorded in 1855–60, billion + -aire, on the model of millionaire

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Explanation

Someone who lives in the U.S. and has money, property, and investments worth at least a billion dollars is a billionaire. Being a billionaire is dependent on a country's currency; in Europe, a net worth of a billion Euros makes someone a billionaire. There are around 2,500 Americans in this category, each possessing at least $1 billion — or a thousand million dollars. During the pandemic, U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by than $1.7 trillion dollars. The French billion was originally defined as "a million million," from bi-, "two," and million, but that was altered to "a thousand million."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

billionaire billionaires

Amarillo billionaire Alex Fairly, meanwhile, had maxed out to Paxton’s direct campaign account with a $7,000 donation in the spring; in late August, he gave $274,300 to Paxton’s joint fundraising committee.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

The tech billionaire described the development as "what happens when you have a collaboration with the world's best car company and the world's best rocket company," referring to Tesla and SpaceX.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

But in recent months, Greer became more prominent, in part because many trading partners preferred his lawyerly approach to the aggressive negotiating style of Lutnick, a billionaire former Wall Street executive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Holmes is the former billionaire CEO of Theranos who pretended she’d built a revolutionary blood testing machine to squeeze investors for a few dollars more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

“I think most reporters are far more interested in movie stars and singers talking about the environment in front of fifty thousand kids than they are in some crackpot billionaire talking about making fake rain.”

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Because it can take months to establish residency in another state, billionaires would likely have had to initiate their relocation last autumn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Though the Kings like to examine things from different sides, “Cupertino” is at its heart a joyful attack on tech bros and billionaires, which is all right with me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

As the AI boom took hold in the early 2020s, Scale grew into a key vendor for top AI labs, making Wang one of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Griffin’s donation to CMU may be the biggest, but it’s one of many from billionaires to schools across the country this year.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

Today, anyone may have a shot at becoming a United States Supreme Court justice or a CEO, and there are more and more self-made billionaires.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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