legal tender

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noun

currency that may be lawfully tendered in payment of a debt, such as paper money, Federal Reserve notes, or coins.

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Origin of legal tender

First recorded in 1730–40

Words nearby legal tender

legal pad, legal positivism, legal reserve, legal separation, legal-size, legal tender, legal weight, Leganés, Legaspi, legate, legatee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use legal tender in a sentence

Businesses are free to refuse commercial payment systems—but because digital RMB is legal tender, they are legally obliged to accept it.
How China’s Digital Currency Could Challenge the Almighty Dollar|Charlie Campbell|August 11, 2021|Time
The International Monetary Fund has also cautioned nations against accepting Bitcoin as legal tender.
Creative Currencies — The Anti-Crypto|Sohini Das Gupta|August 11, 2021|Ozy
No country has ever used bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as legal tender, and challenges abound.
World Bank slams bitcoin, declines to help El Salvador’s cryptocurrency plan|Tim De Chant|June 17, 2021|Ars Technica
The World Bank has rejected the government of El Salvador's request to help the country implement Bitcoin as legal tender, Reuters first reported late Wednesday.
World Bank rejects El Salvador's request to help implement bitcoin|Rebecca Falconer|June 17, 2021|Axios

On June 8, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
El Salvador is luring bitcoin fans while Salvadorans are seeking asylum|Nicolás Rivero|June 9, 2021|Quartz
If so, why do the rest of us have to put up with legal-tender paper money?
‘A Ghastly Waste of Time?’ Considering the Constitution|Seth Lipsky|January 15, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It was not practicable to deny a legal-tender value to so much Mexican, and Spanish-Philippine coin in circulation.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
I don't suppose our greenbacks would be a legal tender with them.
Left on Labrador|Charles Asbury Stephens
This would involve, of course, the possible inflation of legal tender currency to the amount of outstanding bonds.
A History of Trade Unionism in the United States|Selig Perlman
This quality of being a legal tender was the only respect in which these notes differ from those signed by an individual.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 9 (of 12)|Robert G. Ingersoll
Clothed with sovereignty, it had, or at least exercised, the power to make its notes a legal tender.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 9 (of 12)|Robert G. Ingersoll

British Dictionary definitions for legal tender

legal tender

noun

currency in specified denominations that a creditor must by law accept in redemption of a debt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for legal tender

legal tender

Any form of money that a government decrees must be accepted in payment of debts.

legal tender

Origin of legal tender

Words nearby legal tender

Words related to legal tender

How to use legal tender in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for legal tender

Cultural definitions for legal tender