millionaire
Americannoun
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a person whose wealth amounts to a million or more in some unit of currency, as dollars.
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any very rich person.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of millionaire
1820–30; < French millionnaire, equivalent to million million + -aire -ary
Compare meaning
How does millionaire compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A millionaire is someone who has at least a million dollars. If you're a millionaire, you are incredibly wealthy — but not as rich as a billionaire. In U.S., if you have a million dollars — or things that are worth that much, like a million-dollar house — you're a millionaire. In the U.K., a millionaire has a million pounds. This word describes a specific amount of wealth, but it's also a metaphor for "rich," so you might say, "My neighbors are millionaires — they travel to foreign countries all the time!" The first American millionaire was John Jacob Astor, who earned his riches from 18th-century fur trading.
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.
A retired IT analyst has become the seventh person to win the £1m jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
From BBC • Apr. 26, 2026
In 1966, Twister became a phenomenon and challenged sexual norms, while a revamped version of Milton Bradley’s Game of Life—complete with plastic automobiles and destinations including Millionaire Acres—pushed the postwar suburban fantasy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 21, 2026
In “The Millionaire Next Door,” Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko describe wealthy Americans as thrifty saver-investors who have long cured themselves of any taste for luxury.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 8, 2026
The couple shared a £1m pot of cash with seven other neighbours after their postcode won the lottery's weekly Millionaire Street Prize.
From BBC • Oct. 9, 2025
This paragraph from Accidental Millionaire, one of the many Jobs biographies, gives us a sense of how extraordinary his childhood experiences were.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
