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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

Etymology

Origin of treasury

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

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 finance ministry is providing the bulk of the funding through the issuance of special treasury bonds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The billionaire investor, who worked with the treasury secretary at Soros Fund Management, voiced his disapproval of Bessent’s tactics in a strongly-worded oped published in the Wall Street Journal Monday.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

In recent months, the fund hired more experienced executives to run areas such as compliance, investor relations and finance, including Sven Khatri, a former treasury researcher at Citadel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Benna, then a corporate benefits consultant, brought what he called his “aggressive interpretation” of section 401 to treasury officials, who took his suggestions on board.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

When word reached Octavian that Mark Antony was dead, he feared that Cleopatra would kill herself or burn up her treasury or both.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby

Treasury yields lower while French, Italian and Greek bond yields jumped.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

"Our European partners should accelerate delivery on their existing commitments and make additional supplies immediately available to address ongoing disruptions," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on social media.

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

Yet as the turbulent session wore on, intense buying suddenly erupted in policy-sensitive parts of the $31.5 trillion Treasury market.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

The 30-year Treasury, which reached its highest level since June 2002 yesterday, pulled back by 0.036 percentage point to 5.602%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

First there came mimeographed letters of commendation, then real letters signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and not with a rubber stamp either.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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

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 activity implied that treasuries may have lost their glow, or that the stock market collapse had produced untenable losses among Wall Street traders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025

The authorities both local and national had to spend every penny in their treasuries and every second of time in the sole task of dealing with the chaos.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• bank
• coffer
• exchequer