Word forms: plural millionslanguage note: The plural form is million after a number, or after a word or expression referring to a number, such as 'several'or 'a few'.
1. number
A million or one million is the number 1,000,000.
Up to five million people a year visit the county.
Profits for 1999 topped £100 million.
2. quantifier
If you talk about millions of people or things, you mean that there is a very large number of them but you do not know or do not want to say exactly how many.
The programme was viewed on television in millions of homes. [+ of]
You can also use millions as a pronoun.
This wretched war has brought misery to millions.
million in British English
(ˈmɪljən)
nounWord forms: plural-lions or -lion
1.
the cardinal number that is the product of 1000 multiplied by 1000
See also number (sense 1)
2.
a numeral, 1 000 000, 106, M, etc, representing this number
3. (often plural) informal
an extremely large but unspecified number, quantity, or amount
I have millions of things to do
determiner
4. (preceded bya or by a numeral)
a.
amounting to a million
a million light years away
b.
(as pronoun)
I can see a million under the microscope
5. gone a million
▶ Related prefix: mega-
Word origin
C17: via Old French from early Italian millione, from mille thousand, from Latin
million in American English
(ˈmɪljən)
noun
1.
a thousand thousands; 1,000,000
2.
a million (unspecified but understood) monetary units, as dollars, pounds, francs, etc.
3.
an indefinite but very large number
a hyperbolic use
adjective
4.
amounting to one million in number
Word origin
ME millioun < OFr million < It milione < mille, thousand < L
More idioms containing
million
look a million dollars
feel a million dollars
a chance in a million
one in a million
Examples of 'million' in a sentence
million
About four million households are using prepayment meters.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It has emerged victims and their families may be due tens of millions of pounds in compensation.
The Sun (2016)
Each summer millions of tourists visit the mountain.
Smithsonian Mag (2017)
More than a million people saw the play in the four years after it was written.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It makes you feel a million dollars.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He warned that as many as a million people could be forced to flee their homes because of the operation.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
We aren't a million miles away.
The Sun (2016)
Under the new tax that is expected to rise to about 250 million a year.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Business investment schemes that have paid out more than 100 million in public money to their own board members are facing investigation.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They perceived no choice save to use a million soldiers to hold their ground.
Max Hastings Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 194445 (2007)
It was the one million pound moment.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Up to half a million people also have the condition but do not know it.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Some accountants suggest that as many as a million people a year will pay higher taxes.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The war was a million miles away.
Patrick Bishop FIGHTER BOYS: Saving Britain 1940 (2003)
The operation aimed to visit three million homes.
The Sun (2016)
We have to raise a million dollars a day.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The sending off changed the game one million per cent.
The Sun (2009)
The people here expected them to do something for millions of flood victims.
The Sun (2010)
The pictures astonished millions of people around the world yesterday.
The Sun (2008)
And it genuinely made a difference to many millions.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The pressures of the home season were a million miles away.
The Sun (2012)
It goes against the grain hearing about some of the recipients of the money millions of us spend.
The Sun (2010)
In five cases the amount paid in compensation and costs was more than a quarter of a million pounds.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
With more rain forecast, millions will today see hosepipe bans lifted.
The Sun (2012)
The direct cost of the change will be 100 million a year.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The war cost 16 million lives in all.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Victory took him past 1 million in prize money for the season.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Within three months of its posting, her blog had been visited a million times.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
million
British English: million /ˈmɪljən/ NUMBER
A million or one million is the number 1,000,000.
Five million people visit the county each year.
American English: million
Arabic: مَلْيُون
Brazilian Portuguese: milhão
Chinese: 百万
Croatian: milijun
Czech: milion
Danish: million
Dutch: miljoen
European Spanish: millón
Finnish: miljoona
French: million
German: Million
Greek: εκατομμύριο
Italian: milione
Japanese: 100万
Korean: 백만
Norwegian: million
Polish: milion
European Portuguese: milhão
Romanian: milion
Russian: миллион
Latin American Spanish: millón
Swedish: miljon
Thai: หนึ่งล้าน
Turkish: milyon
Ukrainian: мільйон
Vietnamese: triệu
Chinese translation of 'million'
million
(ˈmɪljən)
num
百万(萬) (bǎiwàn)
⇒ three million pounds300万英镑 (sānbǎi wàn yīngbàng)
a or one million books/people/dollars100万(萬)本书(書)/个(個)人/元 (yībǎi wàn běn shū/gè rén/yuán)
millions are starving数(數)以百万(萬)的人正在忍受饥(飢)饿(餓) (shù yǐ bǎiwàn de rén zhèngzài rěnshòu jī'è)
millions of people/things (= loads of) 无(無)数(數)的人/物 (wúshù de rén/wù)