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.
For young Americans, casual dating is as easy as swiping right on an app, but prices can quickly add up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
"Yet even this treasury could not add up to a background of common sense sufficient to make expert systems smart enough to be experts," Denning notes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
He said the "lone impostor" explanation did not add up.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
All of which should add up to a special alchemy at the Bowl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 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
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.
