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

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

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

Meta Platforms paid $22.5 million to protect billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg, citing his high profile and “specific threats.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

He was a rich and famous billionaire white dude.

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

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

Businesses and billionaires are drawn to Tennessee by its lack of state income and property taxes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 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

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