reserve currency

noun

1. any currency, as the U.S. dollar, used as a medium to settle international debts.

reserve currency

noun

1. foreign currency that is acceptable as a medium of international payments and that is therefore held in reserve by many countries

Word History and Origins

Origin of reserve currency¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Renewed confidence in U.S. growth and the dollar’s role as a reserve currency could tarnish the rally.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Facing down poor economic prospects thanks to his tariff chaos, his immigrant deportations, and his alienation of foreign tourists, the man in charge of the world’s reserve currency has been agitating for the Fed to lower the interest rates it’s kept elevated for years now, in order to juice private investment and make his record seem rosier than it is.

Read more on Slate

At home I have a book called Death of the Dollar by William F Rickenbacker in which he warns of the risks to the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.

Read more on BBC

Moody's maintained that the US "retains exceptional credit strengths such as size, resilience and dynamism and the continued role of the US dollar as the global reserve currency".

Read more on BBC

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, when nations wisely stopped backing their currencies with gold and the U.S. cemented its position as the globe’s economic steward, the dollar became the world’s reserve currency, a sturdy venue for value storage, for trade, for the circulation of cash.

Read more on Slate