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.
But incumbent steel companies were caught off guard by the size of Mesabi’s plan to add up to 10 million tons of steel annually to the U.S. market, with initial production starting in 2030.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
My calculator says those five items alone add up to 16.4% of GDP.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the proposed rule changes are part of a crackdown on the "little charges that add up" when families plan their holiday trips.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
That doesn’t add up to a threat of force, Cohen said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
If she kept at it, chipping away at weak links wherever she found them, it might add up to something.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
