(n.) According to the French and American method of numeration, a thousand millions, or 1,000,000,000; according to the English method, a million millions, or 1,000,000,000,000. See Numeration.
Example Sentences:
(1) Project grants to selected State and local agencies amounted to about $.8 billion.
(2) Quotes Justin Timberlake: "Even more importantly customers love it … over 20 million listening on iTunes Radio, listened to over a billion songs.
(3) For more than half a century, Saudi leaders manipulated the United States by feeding our oil addiction, lavishing money on politicians, helping to finance American wars, and buying billions of dollars in weaponry from US companies.
(4) Its struggling mobile phone business resulted in a net loss of 136 billion yen for the three months to September, although that figure was smaller than analysts had predicted.
(5) "It will mean root-and-branch change for our banks if we are to deliver real change for Britain, if we are to rebuild our economy so it works for working people, and if we are to restore trust in a sector of our economy worth billions of pounds and hundreds of thousands of jobs to our country."
(6) The deal will also be scrutinised to see if its claims of new billions to jump start world economies prove to be inflated.
(7) Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for UNEP, said the latest findings should encourage more governments to follow moves by some politicians to invest billions of dollars in clean energy and efficiency as a way of curbing greenhouse gases.
(8) On the other hand, if the world population grew to 1-2 billion fertile women, the million tons of contraceptive steroids needed would require an inexpensive total synthesis.
(9) By easing these huge flows of hundreds of billions across borders, the single currency played a material role in causing the continent's crisis.
(10) The US farm bill is a multi-billion dollar piece of legislation that controls the federal government's spending on farm subsidies, food for the domestic poor, agriculture conservation programmes, and overseas food aid , among other things.
(11) And the number has risen sharply since 1980, with nearly 1 billion people added to the ranks of the poor over the past 35 years.
(12) The total earnings gap between the 2 groups was +17.6 billion (1986 dollars).
(13) • Mubarak becomes a major mediator in the Arab-Israeli peace process, remaining a consistent US ally bolstered by billions of dollars in American aid.
(14) Many alternative, more reliable sources of public finance are out there – a tax on financial transactions would provide billions of dollars of new money for developing countries to tackle climate change head on."
(15) Sir Ken Morrison, supermarkets Jersey trusts protect the billion-pound wealth of the 83-year-old Bradford-born Morrisons supermarket founder and a large number of his family members.
(16) It forecasts the pressure on forests will increase as world population grows by more than 2.5 billion people in the next 40 years.
(17) This would deplete the budget by a further $3.53 billion over the same four-year period," his report says.
(18) The world's population was 5.2 billion in 1990, which is increasing at an annual rate of 90 million, mainly in the developing countries.
(19) Ukraine has said it needs $35 billion over the next two years to stave off bankruptcy.
(20) The U.S. also needs significant regulatory and financial support, including "billions in loan guarantees," the report said.
Billon
Definition:
(n.) An alloy of gold and silver with a large proportion of copper or other base metal, used in coinage.