A dime is an American coin worth ten cents, or one-tenth of a dollar. It's the smallest U.S. coin in size, even though it's worth more than the larger nickel (five cents) and penny (one cent). Ten dimes equal one dollar.

On the front, you'll see President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led America through the Great Depression and World War II. The back shows a torch, an oak branch, and an olive branch.

People use dime in several common expressions. When something is extremely common, you might say it's a dime a dozen, meaning they're so plentiful they're not special. If someone can stop on a dime, they can halt instantly with precision, like a basketball player changing direction.

The phrase dropping a dime originally meant making a phone call (when payphones cost ten cents), but it came to mean secretly telling the police about someone's wrongdoing.