total
Americanadjective
-
constituting or comprising the whole; entire; whole.
the total expenditure.
- Synonyms:
- complete
-
of or relating to the whole of something.
the total effect of a play.
-
complete in extent or degree; absolute; unqualified; utter.
a total failure.
-
involving all aspects, elements, participants, resources, etc.; unqualified; all-out.
total war.
noun
-
totals
plural
verb (used with object)
-
totals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
totaled,
past participle, past
-
totalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
totaling,
present participle
-
totalling
present participle (especially British)
-
to bring to a total; add up.
-
to reach a total of; amount to.
-
Slang. to wreck or demolish completely.
He totaled his new car in the accident.
verb (used without object)
-
totals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
totaled,
past participle, past
-
totalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
totaling,
present participle
-
totalling
present participle (especially British)
noun
adjective
-
complete; absolute
the evening was a total failure
a total eclipse
-
(prenominal) being or related to a total
the total number of passengers
verb
-
to amount
to total six pounds
-
(tr) to add up
to total a list of prices
-
slang (tr) to kill or badly injure (someone)
-
(tr) to damage (a vehicle) beyond repair
Usage
What does total mean? Total describes the wholeness or entirety of something, like the total amount of cake you ate last night. If you ate the total cake, you ate the entire cake (and might have felt sick afterward!). Total describes the breadth of something either physically or conceptually. For example, your total order describes all the items in your purchase. While if you’re a total success, you are completely successful. A total is the complete amount or sum. The total on your restaurant bill is the entire amount of money you owe for your meal. A total can also be the entirety of something. The total of your book collection would be all the books you own, and the total of your sports equipment is all the equipment you own. Finally, to total is to add up (to total your bill) or to reach an amount, as in The bill totalled up to $56. 75. Example: The total on the bill is higher than I expected because I forgot about sales tax.
Synonym Usage
See whole.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
supertotalnoun
-
retotalverb (used with object)
-
quasi-totaladjective
-
untotaledadjective
-
untotalledadjective
-
quasi-totallyadverb
-
totallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
totalsimple
-
totalssimple
-
have totaledperfect
-
have totalledperfect
-
has totaledperfect
-
has totalledperfect
-
am totalingprogressive
-
am totallingprogressive
-
are totalingprogressive
-
are totallingprogressive
-
is totalingprogressive
-
is totallingprogressive
-
have been totalingperfect progressive
-
have been totallingperfect progressive
-
has been totalingperfect progressive
-
has been totallingperfect progressive
Past
-
totaledsimple
-
totalledsimple
-
had totaledperfect
-
had totalledperfect
-
was totalingprogressive
-
was totallingprogressive
-
were totalingprogressive
-
were totallingprogressive
-
had been totalingperfect progressive
-
had been totallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of total
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (adjective), from Medieval Latin tōtālis , equivalent to Latin tōt(us) “entire” + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
There are many meanings of total, but they all have something to do with completeness. A total is a whole or complete amount, and "to total" is to add numbers or to destroy something. In math, you total numbers by adding them: the result is the total. If you add 8 and 8, the total is 16. If a car is totaled in an accident, it has been completely destroyed. A total defeat is a complete and utter defeat with no chance of recovering. The total resources of a company are all its resources, everything it has.
Vocabulary lists containing total
Eclipse Vocabulary
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Measurement and Data, List 1
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Operations and Algebraic Thinking
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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.
See Examples For:
“As these off-balance sheet commitments become more frequent, larger, and more complex, it is becoming increasingly difficult for investors to assess companies’ total potential leverage,” Morgan Stanley accounting analysts wrote in April.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Although the physical ring may measure only a few millimeters, the total effective distance traveled by the light depends on how little energy is lost from the waveguide each time it goes around.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
Each individual gluon, including those forming the junction, therefore carries a smaller portion of the proton's total momentum.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Reform says it has spent six months drawing up a 50-page plan that it claims will save a total of £50bn a year.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Except, I was once greatly comforted by a psychic medium, a total stranger, who told me what I took to be specific details about my much loved, deceased grandfather.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Sales at nonstore retailers—which mostly represent online shopping—fell by 2.2%, pulling down the overall totals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
In terms of cumulative volume breadth, both “stocks only” totals reached new all-time highs yesterday, so that is a bullish sign.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Chipotle’s chicken burrito with rice, beans, cheese and salsa, plus a side of chips, totals $12.50.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Across all four apps, estimated calorie totals were about 250 to 345 calories too low per meal on average.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Their names stayed on the board with their totals.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Accel and Iconiq also participated in the financing, which totaled about $1 billion, one of the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
New jobless claims in the last three weeks totaled 199,000, 198,000 and 189,000 after adjusting for seasonal swings in employment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Previous agreements with companies TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Invenergy and Duke Energy totaled about $2.7 billion for the cancellation of at least a dozen federal wind leases.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Watching Graham Platner’s campaign implode was like watching that expensive red sports car get totaled.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
The twisting crunch that totaled Mr. Costello’s van had only lasted a second.
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
In the capital Havana, power outages totalled more than 30 hours at a time, while in the outlying provinces, it was several days before electricity was restored.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
In contrast, Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.5 million in March, up 4.9% on-year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Trade in goods alone totalled about $976bn in 2024.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
The missile business for U.S. prime contractors totalled about $30 billion in 2025, per Lockheed Martin.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
There was nothing spectacular in our winnings; but they totalled about five times the amount we could have made at home; and they represented a very fair little stake with which to start life.
From Gold by Stewart Edward White
The D.C. compound includes two large, historical buildings and a chauffeur’s residence and garage, totaling nearly 27,000 square feet of interior space.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
A year after a tree branch fell at a Calabasas summer camp and killed a camper, the child’s family has reached a settlement with three organizations totaling almost $20 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Amazon added it remained committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 under The Climate Pledge, and had enabled 40 carbon-free energy projects totaling nearly 10 gigawatts in Texas.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s financial statements show he has reported accepting honors gala tickets from CBS or its parent company eight times since his 2017 appointment to the commission, totaling over $75,000 in gifts.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
“He sort of lost some revenue. The Corporation posted second, third, and fourth quarter losses totaling around forty billion? So, you know, they had to make some sacrifices, let some workers go.”
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
Swiss pharmaceutical group Sandoz on Monday announced two amicable settlements in the United States, totalling $478.5 million, to resolve a long-running dispute related to generic drug pricing.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
GSK said it had taken a hit totalling £1.3 billion after not proceeding further with camlipixant following final stage trials.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The building's windows, totalling over 1,000, also needed to be replaced – dating back to the 1970s, they were too heavy, hard to open, and not energy efficient.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Kyrgios was fined three times for amounts totalling £14,500 during the 2022 tournament.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
"The cost of the Green Rust is totalling up, doctor."
From The Green Rust by Edgar Wallace
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.
