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

Etymology

Origin of billionaire

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

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

Two paintings by the Impressionist master Claude Monet that have never been shown in public are to be sold in Paris next month by the billionaire Schlumberger family of France, auction house Sotheby's said Thursday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss has also sold his stake, meaning Clearlake - led by co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano - have now acquired full control of the club.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

The billionaire didn’t address a claim by Macklemore that Kraft had whipped up support from other NFL owners whose stadiums host Sheeran’s tour to ice out the opening act altogether.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

The billionaire also said he welcomes conversation with Macklemore to “discuss the facts.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

I guess six thousand dollars—to me, an unconquerable mountain—isn’t even worth a second thought when you’re a billionaire.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Fast forward to the last few days and along come these colossal donations from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, two cryptocurrency billionaires who until recently lived in Hong Kong and Thailand respectively.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Speaking at the same event, the head of open-source messaging application Signal, Meredith Whittaker, warned about AI being controlled by a handful of billionaires, but urged the audience "don't buy the hype".

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

The purchase is the latest example of how tech billionaires have been expanding their real estate holdings outside California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

A more obvious problem: The state would be lending money to billionaires to pay itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

He’d had to make his way alone, and no one — not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses — ever makes it alone.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell