trillion
[tril-yuh n]
- a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 12 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 18 zeros.
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- amounting to one trillion in number.
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Origin of trillion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for trillion
Contemporary Examples
World GDP (including North Pole toyshop gross output) is $84.97 trillion.
There are about 80 million Americans between the ages of 18-34 and next year they are expected to spend $2.45 trillion.
Among other things, the bill appropriates $1.1 trillion in funding—including over $550 billion for the Department of Defense.
In 2012, the top 20 percent made $13.5 trillion in income; the entire bottom 80% made $1 trillion.
Illegal immigrants have already paid about $1 trillion into social security.
Historical Examples
Its distance is 64 trillion kilometers (391⁄2 trillion miles).
Astronomy for AmateursCamille Flammarion
Its distance is 69 trillion kilometers (421⁄2 trillion miles).
Astronomy for AmateursCamille Flammarion
This has happened in the case of the words million, billion, trillion, &c.
Among the trillion mysteries of the cosmos, the most phenomenal is light.
Autobiography of a YOGIParamhansa Yogananda
Not one of these stars is within a trillion miles of any other.
Life in a Thousand WorldsWilliam Shuler Harris
trillion
- the number represented as one followed by twelve zeros (10 12); a million million
- (formerly, in Britain) the number represented as one followed by eighteen zeros (10 18); a million million million
- (often plural) an exceptionally large but unspecified number
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- (preceded by a or a numeral)
- amounting to a trilliona trillion stars
- (as pronoun)there are three trillion
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Word Origin
C17: from French, on the model of million
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
Word Origin and History for trillion
1680s, from French trillion (late 15c.), from tri- (see tri-) + (m)illion. Cf. billion. In the U.S., the fourth power of a thousand (one thousand billion, 1 followed by 12 zeroes); in Great Britain, the third power of a million (one million billion, 1 followed by 18 zeroes), which is the original sense.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper