billion

Either of two large amounts:; a thousand million (logic: 1,000 × 1,000²): 1 followed by nine zeros, 10⁹.US

• At the last assessment it [the national debt] amounts to seven billion pounds (£7,000,000,000).
• In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

Either of two large amounts:; A million million (logic: 1,000,000²): a 1 followed by twelve zeros (10¹²); a thousand milliard.dated

• n = 1,000,000,000,000, that is, = a billion, or the square of a million

An unspecified very large number.colloquialexcessive

• Near-synonyms: gazillion; see also Thesaurus:zillion
• There were billions of people at the concert.