How to Write 1 Million Dollars (Formal Document)

Have you ever wondered how to write one million dollars in a formal document? Well, these alternatives will provide the best options:

• One million dollars
• 1 million dollars
• $1,000,000
• $1 million
• $1M
• A Million Dollars

1. One Million Dollars

One million dollars written out is often the simplest way to include it in formal writing. Spelling out any number in a formal document helps the readers to follow along. An abrupt change from letters to numbers can be jarring, after all.

We encourage using this form when writing formal documents relating to specific deals or sums in a sentence. But what does this mean?

Well, take a look at the following sentence:

• We wanted to make a deal with them for the sum of $1M, but they weren’t interested.

While the above sentence is grammatically correct, it doesn’t appear as formal as it should. There’s a simple fix for this, though.

You should write out “one million dollars” when a full sentence surrounds it, as it helps the reader to follow along. It aids comprehension in formal writing, making it a useful alternative.

Here are some examples showing you how to use it in a sentence:

• I’m going to need to ask for one million dollars to sign off on this. I will not accept a lower amount.
• One million dollars was a small price to pay for the amount they wanted to get out of this project.

2. 1 Million Dollars

You don’t need to write out every number in formal writing. Sometimes, keeping the 1 when using 1 million dollars written out makes things clear enough.

Some readers prefer seeing small numbers (such as 1) in formal documents. While 1 million isn’t a small number, only writing 1 as a number helps most people follow along with the specified amount.

Of course, we recommend using this variation when there is less of a need to follow the rest of the sentence. For example, you might be better off using 1 million dollars when fewer words are in your written sentence.

These examples will help you to understand what that means:

• I’m going to ask them for 1 million dollars.
• They needed to be clearer if they wanted 1 million dollars.

3. $1,000,000

Writing $1,000,000 in numbers works in some formal cases. However, you need to know the best situations when they can come up. Otherwise, you might use it incorrectly.

$1,000,000 in numbers works best in formal accounting documents. Basically, any document that refers specifically to passing money around or managing accounts will benefit from using the number form.

Most people prefer the simplicity of the number form as well. That’s why it’s such a suitable one to use when there is less dependency on formal tone and rules.

Here are a couple of examples that should help you with it:

• The account comes to $1,000,000.
• We valued all of this at $1,000,000.

4. $1 Million

“$1 million” is a good option, though it’s not as common as the others. In this variation, the dollar sign comes first, indicating that you’re dealing with a monetary value as early as possible (helping the reader to follow along).

This alternative works best in a letter when sharing monetary values with the recipient. Letters benefit from having the currency sign early as it shows the reader that you are talking about money while they skim over it.

It’s much more common for readers to skim through letters to pick out the most important parts than it would be for other formal documents. You may also include this variation on a resume, as it’s quite common for employers to skim through those.

Here are a few examples to make more sense of it:

• We are talking about a cash sum of $1 million right now. It would be a shame to let that go to waste.
• $1 million is a lot of money. Please, don’t be foolish and pass the opportunity up!

5. $1M

“$1M” is a great option if you want to write one million dollars in short form. This saves time and effort when including a large cash sum in a formal document.

However, there is a time and place when the short form $1M works. We only recommend using this form when filling out a table or database that coincides with a formal document.

Short-form currency like $1M looks much better in a table or database. Limiting the readable information helps readers to follow the contents of a table without needing to focus too much.

These examples will explain when it might work best:

• Total cost: $1M
• Projected losses: $1M

6. A Million Dollars

“A million dollars” is a direct synonym of “one million dollars.” You can replace “a” with “one” in most formal written cases.

“A million dollars” doesn’t have a specific context that works better for it. We only included it as an alternative to “one million dollars” to help you spice things up with your formal writing.

You’ll probably have the most luck using “a million dollars” when writing formal correspondence with lots of writing. “A million dollars” fits nicer into a sentence when surrounded by many words.

If you don’t believe us, you can check these examples:

• They are asking for a million dollars before we can carry out the investigation on their campus.
• A million dollars is a small price to pay, and it would be worth it to see whether we can pull this off.