dollar

American  

[dol-er] / ˈdɒl ər /

noun

• dollars
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dollars
  plural

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

See Examples For:

dollar dollars

The euro was steady against the dollar and Deutsche Bank said it could continue to trade between $1.13 and $1.20 during the rest of this year, marking the narrowest range on record.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

With the U.S. dollar, what protects its value is the restraint of the government officials who manage it.

From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026

Some of the lawsuits have resulted in media organisations agreeing to pay multimillion dollar settlements.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

And the yen is already very cheap against the dollar by historic measures.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Or how he’d only seen dollar signs in the melting sea ice, not the threat to the polar bears.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

With the deal happening, you would have a company willing to do 30 movies, 45-day windows in the theaters, 170 TV shows, 30 billion dollars in content spend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

There are billions of dollars at stake and now a legal debate that could upend the entire merger arbitrage industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

MA has a buy rating and target price of 3.65 Australian dollars a share on the miner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

You pay him your dollars now, and you get more dollars back, every month, without risk.

From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026

Somehow, some way, I can find three hundred dollars.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Related Words

• currency
• greenback