top dollar

noun

The maximum amount of money that an item, service, or worker is worth; a very high price.

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Meanings

nountop dollar (countable and uncountable, plural top dollars)

plural top dollars

  1. UScountableidiomaticuncountableThe maximum amount of money that an item, service, or worker is worth; a very high price.

    Consumers are willing to pay top dollar for distinctive, rare, traditional cheeses.

    2006 December 6, “Many ways to say cheese”, in Toronto Star, page F2
    1 more example

    Within six months, Goodie was back in radio, earning just about the top dollar for a writer ($3,000 weekly) as Danny Kaye's chief scripter.

    1947 September 8, “Aces Up”, in Time
Cite this entry
APA

top dollar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/top%20dollar

MLA

“top dollar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/top%20dollar. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “top dollar,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/top%20dollar.

Source: top dollar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.