STERLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sterling mean? 

• STERLING (noun)
  The noun STERLING has 1 sense:

1. British money; especially the pound sterling as the basic monetary unit of the UK

  Familiarity information: STERLING used as a noun is very rare.

• STERLING (adjective)
  The adjective STERLING has 1 sense:

1. highest in quality

  Familiarity information: STERLING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STERLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

British money; especially the pound sterling as the basic monetary unit of the UK

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("sterling" is a kind of...):

money (the official currency issued by a government or national bank)

• STERLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Highest in quality

Synonyms:

greatest; sterling; superlative

Similar:

superior (of high or superior quality or performance)

 Context examples 

March 29 would be a sterling day to do so.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

For some time back Mawson & Williams, the famous financial house, have been the guardians of securities which amount in the aggregate to a sum of considerably over a million sterling.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This was the home of Henry Jekyll’s favourite; of a man who was heir to a quarter of a million sterling.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered, for it has been accustomed to blend them; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth—to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Sick of ambitious and mercenary connexions, prizing more and more the sterling good of principle and temper, and chiefly anxious to bind by the strongest securities all that remained to him of domestic felicity, he had pondered with genuine satisfaction on the more than possibility of the two young friends finding their natural consolation in each other for all that had occurred of disappointment to either; and the joyful consent which met Edmund's application, the high sense of having realised a great acquisition in the promise of Fanny for a daughter, formed just such a contrast with his early opinion on the subject when the poor little girl's coming had been first agitated, as time is for ever producing between the plans and decisions of mortals, for their own instruction, and their neighbours' entertainment.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He was giving orders for a toothpick-case for himself, and till its size, shape, and ornaments were determined, all of which, after examining and debating for a quarter of an hour over every toothpick-case in the shop, were finally arranged by his own inventive fancy, he had no leisure to bestow any other attention on the two ladies, than what was comprised in three or four very broad stares; a kind of notice which served to imprint on Elinor the remembrance of a person and face, of strong, natural, sterling insignificance, though adorned in the first style of fashion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Increasingly, you will find that you are at precisely the right place at the right time, in an ideal position to take advantage of sterling opportunities.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Another sterling day for you—and this one is sure to be a five-star day—will be December 15 when Jupiter in Capricorn, your friendship house, will receive sparkling vibrations from Uranus in Taurus, your travel house.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

If you are writing a book or screenplay, doing set design or working on the scenes of a movie, or developing a thesis that you will need to defend, for example, this is your year to come up with sterling creative solutions.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You might want to go back to the gym in the last week of December, and thanks to an influx of sterling assignments, you will be able to afford membership in an upscale gym—you will find going there quite motivating and fun.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)