add up to

Idioms  

1. Amount to, signify, as in The smooth airline connections, luxury hotel, and fine weather added up to the best vacation we'd ever had. [Early 1900s] Also see add up.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

add up to

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

But they do not add up to a conspiracy.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 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

Lackluster hitting paired with two more errors add up to the Dodgers being swept for the first time this season in a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

Later that day, Barack held a press conference downstairs, trying to put together words that might add up to something like solace.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama