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

The list also includes a nearly $76 million townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side owned by the ex-wife of billionaire financier John Paulson and a property owned by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

That is being paid by billionaire Roman Karkosik, a 75-year-old who is regularly listed as one of Poland's richest tycoons.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

A Polish billionaire is paying for a giant statue of the Virgin Mary that residents of the village of Konotopie hope will put them on the pilgrimage map.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

This bodes ill for the Moroun family, the billionaire owners of the Ambassador Bridge since 1979, who have long sought to block the new bridge’s construction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Georgie scanned the room, probably searching for the tech billionaire, who was nowhere in sight.

From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty

No counterculture event is more shrouded in hype than this annual gathering of thrill-seekers, Instagram influencers, billionaires and whichever artists can still afford to attend.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

And I found that it was basically three billionaires funding this.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Throughout my time meeting tech billionaires, I increasingly got the sense that they saw themselves as the real holders of power.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

There is some benefit if the children are eligible for “free” seed money, such as from taxpayers or from billionaires, charities and employers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 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