What is money?

• the most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender; “we tried to collect the money he owed us”
• wealth reckoned in terms of money; “all his money is in real estate”
• the official currency issued by a government or national bank; “he changed his money into francs”

• Money is any marketable good or token used by a society as a store of value, a medium of exchange, or a unit of account. Money objects can meet some or all of these needs. Since the needs arise naturally, societies organically create a money object when none exists. In other cases, a central authority creates a money object; this is more frequently the case in modern societies with paper money.

• coins and paper currency issued by a government for payment of debts and for purchase of goods and services.

• A means of payment or a measure of value.

• This is the equivalent of all the goods and services of a collective. Instrument of capitalisation and mobilisation of value and as instrument of release of debts and obligations.

• Anything that serves as a generally accepted medium of exchange, a standard of value and a means to save or store purchasing power. In the United States, currency (the bulk of which is Federal Reserve notes), coin and funds in checking and similar accounts at depository institutions are examples of money.

• The accepted common medium of exchange for goods and services in the marketplace that functions as the unit of account, a means of deferred payment and a store of value.

• A psychological creation; a concept; the mental image of that which is used as a medium of exchange.

• Economists tend to define money as anything readily acceptable as means of payment. Usually this means notes, coins and bank deposits. However, one Authority says it is “an extremely difficult concept to define with precision.” The supply of money comes under any number of definitions. M0 is notes and coins in circulation plus banks’ deposits held in the Reserve Bank. M1 is the total of cash and current account deposits at any given time.

• Anything that is generally accepted as a medium of exchange, such as currency or precious metals. See money stock.

• Anything generally recognized as a medium of exchange.

• “What you buy things with.” It is a medium of exchange, in terms of which the value of all goods and services is expressed.

• Money” means a medium of exchange authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government and includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between 2 or more nations. [1993, c. 293, Pt. B, §2 (amd).]

• Any object that a group of people uses to pay its debts and buy the goods and services that it needs.