amount

American  

[uh-mount] / əˈmaʊnt /

noun

• amounts
  plural

1. the sum total of two or more quantities or sums; aggregate.

2. the sum of the principal and interest of a loan.

3. quantity; measure.

   a great amount of resistance.

4. the full effect, value, or significance.

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verb (used without object)

• amounts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• amounted,
  past participle,  past
• amounting
  present participle

1. to total; add (usually followed byto ).

   The repair bill amounts to $300.

2. to reach, extend, or be equal in number, quantity, effect, etc.; be equivalent (usually followed byto ).

   It is stated differently but amounts to the same thing.

3. to develop into; become (usually followed byto ).

   With his intelligence, he should amount to something when he grows up.

amount British  

/ əˈmaʊnt /

noun

1. extent; quantity; supply

2. the total of two or more quantities; sum

3. the full value, effect, or significance of something

4. a principal sum plus the interest on it, as in a loan

---

verb

1. to be equal or add up in effect, meaning, or quantity

Usage

The use of a plural noun after amount of (an amount of bananas; the amount of refugees ) should be avoided: a quantity of bananas; the number of refugees

Commonly Confused

The traditional distinction between amount and number is that amount is used with mass or uncountable nouns ( the amount of paperwork; the amount of energy ) and number with countable nouns ( a number of songs; a number of days ). Although objected to, the use of amount instead of number with countable nouns occurs in both speech and writing, especially when the noun can be considered as a unit or group ( the amount of people present; the amount of weapons ) or when it refers to money ( the amount of dollars paid; the amount of pennies in the till ).

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• amounts
  plural

Participles

• amounting
  present
• amounted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• amount
  simple
• amounts
  simple
• have amounted
  perfect
• has amounted
  perfect
• am amounting
  progressive
• are amounting
  progressive
• is amounting
  progressive
• have been amounting
  perfect progressive
• has been amounting
  perfect progressive

Past

• amounted
  simple
• had amounted
  perfect
• was amounting
  progressive
• were amounting
  progressive
• had been amounting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will amount
  simple
• will have amounted
  perfect
• will be amounting
  progressive
• will have been amounting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of amount

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English verb amounten, amunten, from Anglo-French amo(u)nter, amunter, Old French amonter literally, “to go up, ascend,” probably a- + monter; noun use of verb from early 18th century; see a- ⁵, mount ¹

Explanation

An amount is a number, or quantity, of something. If you're surprised by the amount of work you have to do at your new job, you probably didn't expect such a long list of tasks. You might complain about the amount of time it takes for the shoes you bought to arrive: amount here means the number of days before you can wear them. Amount is also a verb, meaning "add up to," like when you hope the tips you earn will amount to more than minimum wage. This meaning came before the noun amount, from the now obsolete definition, "to mount a horse," from the Old French amonter, "upward."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

amount amounts amounted amounting

Wisconsin attorney Munson said that in his state, the attorney fees to deal with the estate recovery come off the top of the settlement amount, not out of the pocket of the heirs.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Such figures estimate the amount of annual revenue a company could theoretically capture if it achieved 100% market-share using inputs ranging from industry data to bankers’ models.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

"You need it to be presented to the natural killer cells in just the right amount and in just the right manner."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026

However, there is a huge amount of work to do to reduce the squad from 39 players to around 25 within the next eight days.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

No amount of calming coloring is going to get me in examdomination mode with Jonah smiling that smug smile from across the room.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

“Agentic AI creates two distinct computing challenges: efficiently processing enormous amounts of context and generating tokens with extremely low latency,” Nvidia said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

The universe may contain large amounts of invisible "dark matter" whose gravity supplies the additional pull, or "the fundamental equations for gravity need to be modified."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026

Companies are expected to spend another $1 trillion in capital expenditures on AI in 2027, and similar amounts each year into 2030.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Mukbangers, content creators who eat grotesque amounts of food on camera, frequently feature fried chicken.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

I could do what Ariana did—bake a couple of small batches with different amounts of sugar, so I could see which one tasted the best.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

The prosecution's case is that Ajay Pant was the "master of the ship" and had "knowledge of the cargo", which amounted to some 98,000 tonnes of oil.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

But she agreed that July’s dozens-fold repeat of the 2023 attack pointed to a failure to implement and audit CISA’s earlier guidance—guidance that, again, merely amounted to “Set better passwords.”

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

The team believe the engine had a performance deficit that amounted to about 1.5 seconds in lap time compared to the best in the first part of the season.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

This drug subsidy amounted to nearly $80 billion last year—more than all Medicaid spending on prescription drugs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

The rain hadn’t amounted to more than a few drops, and it was as steamy as the jungles of Borneo—or at least I thought so.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

For some the responsibilities are significant, amounting to more than 50 hours a week - with consequences on young carers' social and academic prospects.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The note and other evidence persuaded an appeals court in 2024 to order Chey to give his ex-wife 35% of his assets, amounting to nearly $1 billion at the time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

As of July 8, ConserveOhio has collected more than 105,000 signatures, amounting to 25% of the 420,142 required.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

In 2025, 48 percent of the World Bank Group's financing had "climate co-benefits," amounting to roughly $50.8 billion, according to official data.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

He decided against it, dismissing the words as crazy talk, amounting to nothing more than battle fatigue.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Related Words

• budget
• cost
• damage
• expense
• extent
• lot
• outlay
• output
• price tag
• product
• sum