Monopoly money
2
6.1
- noun
- /məˈnɑːpəli ˈmʌni/
:
dinero de Monopoly
- It's like he's playing with Monopoly money.
But he, he, some of them told me that the best way to describe it was it was Monopoly money.
- But he, he, some of them told me that the best way to describe it was it was Monopoly money.
Examples
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It's Monopoly money!
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The pockets of his jeans were stuffed with Monopoly money.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's worse than Monopoly money.
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Two million's a lot of monopoly money.
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And I tipped her with Monopoly money.
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Randolph, this isn't Monopoly money we're playing with.
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A stack of Monopoly money in green, yellow, pink, and white, but no Monopoly board and no Monopoly tokens.
Fiction book (2002) -
But he disqualified himself by trying to bribe the jurors with his Monopoly money.
Fiction book (1994) -
When Romney started harping on the Libya thing, I was half hoping Obama would challenge him to a $10,000 bet and reach into his pocket and pull out $10,000 of Monopoly money.
Blog text (32) -
When he saw the amount on his screen, he realized it was just Monopoly money and had no real value.
How Real
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'play money / money used in the board game Monopoly' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'Monopoly' (the board game that uses play money) with 'money'. The figurative use (money treated as having no real-world consequences) follows naturally from the game context and is likely inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents and the basic idea of the game.
Etymology
Monopoly money comes from the bright, fake paper notes used in the board game Monopoly, and they are play money, not real cash. That's why saying someone spends money like 'Monopoly money' means they act as if real money does not matter.