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add up

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verb (adverb)
to find the sum (of)
(intr) to result in a correct total
(intr) informal to make sense
(intr foll by to) to amount to
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Words nearby add up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use add up in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with add up

add up

1

Amount to an expected or correct total, as in These figures don't add up, meaning they are not correct. [Mid-1800s]

2

Be consistent, make sense, as in I'm not sure that all this testimony will add up. [First half of 1900s]

3

Assess, form an opinion of, as in He looked across the track and added up the competition. Also see add up to.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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