bullion
Americannoun
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gold or silver considered in mass rather than in value.
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gold or silver in the form of bars or ingots.
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Also called bullion fringe. a thick trimming of cord covered with gold or silver thread, for decorating uniforms.
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embroidery or lace worked with gold wire or gold or silver cords.
noun
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gold or silver in mass
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gold or silver in the form of bars and ingots, suitable for further processing
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Also called: bullion fringe. a thick gold or silver wire or fringed cord used as a trimming, as on military uniforms
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bullion
1300–50; Middle English: melted mass of gold or silver < Anglo-Latin bulliōn- (stem of bulliō ) in same sense (< Anglo-French bullion mint), literally, a boiling, equivalent to bull ( īre ) to bubble, boil 1 + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you wanted to rob Fort Knox and take all of its gold, you'd plan a heist to get the bullion. Bullion is gold or silver in bulk, often in the shape of a bar. Once upon a time, coins were made of actual precious metals. Before the coins were made, the gold and silver for them was stored bulk, in bullion. Try not to confuse this word with, bouillon, which is broth, or a cube of beef or chicken flavoring used to make broth. If you see the OU in the first syllable, it's a clue that it's the sOUp. If you just see a "bull," think of the stock market and glittery gold.
Vocabulary lists containing bullion
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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In Cold Blood
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Society and Solitude
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But after hitting a record in January, bullion prices backed off.
From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026
Bradshaw invests mainly in gold-mining stocks instead of bullion.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
He said they would get the money "shipped abroad" to buy as much "gold bullion and diamonds as possible".
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
In the lead-up to the Great Depression, they hoarded coins and bullion, clinging to their wealth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Finally, the whole team was dressed, had listened to Coach Spinks’s pre-game harangue, and now waited on that trough of suspended time when each second seems weighed down by the glistening bullion of tension.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
