add up
Britishverb
-
to find the sum (of)
-
(intr) to result in a correct total
-
informal (intr) to make sense
-
to amount to
-
Amount to an expected or correct total, as in These figures don't add up , meaning they are not correct. [Mid-1800s]
-
Be consistent, make sense, as in I'm not sure that all this testimony will add up . [First half of 1900s]
-
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.
"These differences may seem small at first, but they can add up in ways that affect learning, memory and everyday functioning."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
It simply did not add up to the thing I had gone there to find.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
The lockup expiration on Aug. 6 will add up to 911.5 million shares to the market, roughly doubling the amount that are freed to trade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Not doing so at the start of a person’s career can add up to between $1 million and $1.5 million in lost earnings over their lifetime, as Carnegie Mellon University economist Linda Babcock told NPR.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Soon, he realized that the reports didn’t add up.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
