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

Howard Lutnick, the billionaire commerce secretary, bragged last year that if the Social Security Administration stopped sending checks to his mother-in-law she wouldn’t complain.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Other photos published by TMZ show Amazon’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Leonardo Di Caprio were among the guests present for the ceremony.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Not so long ago H. Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire founder of Blockbuster and owner of the Miami Dolphins, wanted more elbow room and bought a neighboring house for $2.5 million.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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

By contrast, in America today, billionaires treat longevity like a full-time job, locking themselves in cryotherapy chambers, getting regular peptide jabs and making the pursuit of living forever look thoroughly joyless.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The tax would impact hundreds of billionaires whose net worth includes assets such as their businesses, stocks and other investments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 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

It’s a rags-to-riches story, and everything we’ve learned so far from hockey players and software billionaires and the Termites suggests that success doesn’t happen that way.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

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