add up

British  

verb

1. to find the sum (of)

2. (intr) to result in a correct total

3. informal  (intr) to make sense

4. to amount to

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add up Idioms  

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 .

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Example Sentences

But everything being done adds up to a drop in the bucket for a city with some 1,000 supermarkets in total.

From Barron's

Koerner robbed his retirement fund to front the start of construction and said that once insurance payments are added up, he’ll be a few hundred thousand dollars in the hole.

From Los Angeles Times

Should Roblox lose these cases, the penalties could add up quickly and imperil the company’s image—potentially leading to a moral panic.

From Barron's

You have a lot of loops to jump through, but even saving a few hundred bucks a year would eventually add up.

From MarketWatch

To break down the different scenarios financially: Your current $2,300 a month in rent adds up to $27,600 per year.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• confirm
• convince
• demonstrate
• determine
• explain
• find
• justify
• result
• show
• substantiate
• test
• try
• turn out
• validate
• verify