dollar

American  

[dol-er] / ˈdɒl ər /

noun

1. a paper money, silver or cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of the United States, equal to 100 cents. $

2. a silver or nickel coin and monetary unit of Canada, equal to 100 cents. $

3. any of the monetary units of various other nations, as Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, East Timor, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Liberia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe, equal to 100 cents.

4. Also called ringgit.  a cupronickel coin and monetary unit of Brunei, equal to 100 sen.

5. ringgit.

6. a thaler.

7. a peso.

8. Levant dollar.

9. yuan.

10. British Slang. (formerly)

    1. five-shilling piece; crown.

    2. the sum of five shillings.

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dollar British  

/ ˈdɒlə /

noun

1. the standard monetary unit of the US and its dependencies, divided into 100 cents

2. the standard monetary unit, comprising 100 cents, of the following countries or territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kiribati, Liberia, Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, and Zimbabwe

3. informal (formerly) five shillings or a coin of this value

4. informal to look or feel extremely well

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dollar Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing dollar

• feel like a million dollars
• look like a million dollars
• you can bet your ass (bottom dollar)

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Etymology

Origin of dollar

First recorded in 1545–55; earlier daler, from Low German, Dutch daler; cognate with German Taler, short for Joachimsthaler, a silver coin minted in Joachimsthal ( Czech Jáchymov ) in Bohemia

Explanation

Kaching! A dollar is a unit of currency or money. The United States, Canada, and Australia all use the dollar. The symbol for a dollar is $. If you say someone worships the all mighty dollar, that means they’re greedy. A dollar bill is the equivalent of 100 cents. There are also coins with the value of a dollar, although these are used less often in the US than in other countries. Sometimes dollar is shorthand for money, like when the Wu-Tang Clan raps, “Cash rules everything around me, dollar dollar bill y’all.” The word dollar comes from the German thaler, an early unit of German currency.

Example Sentences

For grads carrying hefty student debt, the math of where to put your next dollar can be tricky.

From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026

The dollar eased against a basket of currencies.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

NAV fell to $16.49 from $17.33, with the fund trading at 72 cents to the dollar.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

Monthly domestic dollar purchases will be limited to $50,000 per person, down from $100,000, unless the buyer provides a legitimate reason to buy a bigger amount.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

Yet he didn’t want to take a loss, and insisted that, despite his unwillingness to buy more at 77, his triple-A CDOs were still worth 95 cents on the dollar.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• currency
• greenback