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• treasury
  treasury

  noun

  a place where the funds of the government, of a corporation, or the like are deposited, kept, and disbursed.
• Treasury
  Treasury

  noun

  (in various countries) the government department in charge of finance. In Britain the Treasury is also responsible for economic strategy

treasury

American  

[trezh-uh-ree] / ˈtrɛʒ ə ri /

noun

• treasuries
  plural

1. a place where the funds of the government, of a corporation, or the like are deposited, kept, and disbursed.

2. funds or revenue of a government, public or private corporation, etc.

3. (initial capital letter) the department of government that has control over the collection, management, and disbursement of the public revenue.

4. a building, room, chest, or other place for the preservation of treasure or valuable objects.

5. a collection or supply of excellent or highly prized writings, works of art, etc..

   a treasury of American poetry.

6. Informal. Treasuries, Treasury bills, bonds, and notes.

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treasury ¹ British  

/ ˈtrɛʒərɪ /

noun

1. a storage place for treasure

2. the revenues or funds of a government, private organization, or individual

3. a place where funds are kept and disbursed

4. Also: treasure house. a collection or source of valuable items

   a treasury of information

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Treasury ² British  

/ ˈtrɛʒərɪ /

noun

1. (in various countries) the government department in charge of finance. In Britain the Treasury is also responsible for economic strategy

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• treasuries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of treasury

1250–1300; Middle English tresorie < Old French. See treasure, -y ³

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Explanation

A treasury is a kind of bank — it's a place where money and other valuable things are kept, or where a country keeps its wealth. You might guess that a treasury is a place to keep your treasure, and you'd be right. Originally, the word literally meant "room for treasure," from the Old French tresor, "hoard or treasure." Starting in the late 1300s, it also meant "department that controls public revenue," which remains the most common use of treasury today. The U.S. even has an official Department of the Treasury, the part of the executive branch that prints money and collects taxes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

treasury Treasury treasuries

The treasury secretary also highlighted reasons why any restructuring of the mortgage giants isn’t imminent, and the market may have overreacted to his comments.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

Commissioned by the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh, this was one of the most spectacular pieces Cartier ever made, and it mysteriously went missing from the Maharaja’s treasury.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

The US Federal Reserve has aggressively increased rates since 2022 pushing treasury bond yields higher.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

On Dec. 7, 2023, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire received a confidential memo from treasury officials warning of a shortfall in tax receipts, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Edmund’s father seized the king’s treasury, and the lords contended for control.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Think tank Tax Policy Associates estimates, external that increasing the surcharge that banks pay on corporation tax from 3% to 5.5% could potentially raise an additional £1bn to £2bn a year for the Treasury.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

And those rates — paired with high government spending and concerns over mounting deficits — have pressured the bond market, pushing 10-year Treasury yields to levels not seen since the early 2000s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026

The Treasury estimates it is missing out on around £12bn a year, external in VAT revenues that should be paid by companies, which it calls the "VAT tax gap".

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

The Treasury didn’t return a request for comment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

His work was so conscientious that the economic model he developed was pronounced reliable by experts at the Treasury Department and in think tanks on both the right and the left.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

However, the Fed’s hawkish stance is weighing on capital flows into bitcoin, which needs liquidity from ETFs, stablecoins and digital asset treasuries, De Maere added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

“However, the market reaction overnight was telling: as the U.S. dollar remains the current safe haven through this even as U.S. treasuries came under strong pressure yesterday,” he added.

From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026

Over the last year, banks and other financial services firms have made it easier for small investors to buy crypto — exchange traded funds and firms that have constructed themselves as crypto treasuries have proliferated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2025

What we’re seeing now is like a silent IPO: early, oversized holders distributing to a much broader base of buyers who came in through ETFs, brokerages and corporate treasuries.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 17, 2025

The shafts ran down by many slopes and spiral stairs to caverns far under; there Saruman had treasuries, store-houses, armouries, smithies, and great furnaces.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Related Words

• bank
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