Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The cardinal number that is equal to 1027.
  • noun Chiefly British The cardinal number that is equal to 1048.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Great Britain, the number produced by involving a million to the eighth power.
  • noun In French and United States usage, one thousand raised to the ninth power.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun According to the French method of numeration (which method is followed also in the United States) the number expressed by a unit with twenty-seven ciphers annexed. According to the English method, the number expressed by a unit with forty-eight ciphers annexed. See numeration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A thousand trillion trillion, a billion billion billion: 1 followed by 27 zeros, 1027.
  • noun A quadrillion quintillion: 1 followed by 48 zeros, 1048.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the number that is represented as a one followed by 27 zeros

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[oct(o)– + (m)illion.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

oct- (“eight”) + -illion

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Examples

  • Moreover, Mr. Stuart suggests that the Maya computed dates nearly 72 octillion years into the future—that's 72 followed by 27 zeros—by which time, modern scientists tell us, the universe will have ended for real.

    Cosmic Conspiracy Theories Gerard Helferich 2011

  • I didn†™ t say it was getting smaller phyisically (as you can still arrange a few quadrillion atoms in the same foot print as a few octillion atoms).

    Think Progress » ThinkFast AM: July 10, 2006 2006

  • No word on where the gold or silver needed to back a third of an octillion dollars would come from, or where it would beput.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » 2007 » September 2007

  • CREW has released its third of octillion installment of the most corrupt members of Congress.

    Why Our Government Is Broken 2007

  • CREW has released its third of octillion installment of the most corrupt members of Congress.

    Why Our Government Is Broken 2007

  • No word on where the gold or silver needed to back a third of an octillion dollars would come from, or where it would beput.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » There Can Be No Doubt That This Is Bush Derangement Syndrome: 2007

  • Statistically, if you test fifteen spots on the DNA strand, there are more than an octillion nuclear DNA profiles, which is awfully nice when you're in front of a jury and trying to pin down a particular individual.

    The Tenth Circle Picoult, Jodi, 1966- 2006

  • It goes to an octillion years, 41 octillion years.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • But in 1946, it cost 460 octillion pengos to get one dollar in return.

    The Moderate Voice 2009

  • But in 1946, it cost 460 octillion pengos to get one dollar in return.

    The Moderate Voice 2009

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