add up
Britishverb
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to find the sum (of)
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(intr) to result in a correct total
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informal (intr) to make sense
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to amount to
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Amount to an expected or correct total, as in These figures don't add up , meaning they are not correct. [Mid-1800s]
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Be consistent, make sense, as in I'm not sure that all this testimony will add up . [First half of 1900s]
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Assess, form an opinion of, as in He looked across the track and added up the competition . Also see add up to .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To Steele, all of the wins add up to a team that’s capable of beating anybody.
“An individual misuse does not amount to a lot of money, but when you’ve got literally thousands of cars traveling every day, even a fraction of that could add up to a lot.”
This means adding up the market value of all the fund’s investments, plus its cash, as of the market close.
From MarketWatch
That could add up to about $175 billion in fiscal stimulus, enough to contribute to higher inflation, putting pressure on rates.
From Barron's
“The bottom line is the numbers don’t come close to adding up,” said Kent Smetters, an economics and public policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
