arithmetic
Americannoun
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arithmetics
plural
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the method or process of computation with figures: the most elementary branch of mathematics.
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Also called theoretical arithmetic. Also called higher arithmetic,. the theory of numbers; the study of the divisibility of whole numbers, the remainders after division, etc.
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a book on this subject.
adjective
noun
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the branch of mathematics concerned with numerical calculations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
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one or more calculations involving numerical operations
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knowledge of or skill in using arithmetic
his arithmetic is good
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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arithmeticiannoun
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nonarithmeticadjective
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nonarithmeticaladjective
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unarithmeticaladjective
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arithmeticallyadverb
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nonarithmeticallyadverb
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unarithmeticallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of arithmetic
1200–50; < Latin arithmētica, feminine singular of arithmēticus < Greek arithmētikḗ ( téchnē ) (art, skill) of numbers, equivalent to arithmé ( ein ) to reckon + -t ( o )- verbal adjective + -ikḗ -ic; replacing Middle English arsmet ( r ) ike < Old French arismetique < Medieval Latin arismētica, with s for Late Greek th
Explanation
Arithmetic is another word for math, specifically the areas of math having to do with numbers and calculating. If you're good at adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying, then you're good at arithmetic, which is a big part of math. Arithmetic has to do with doing calculations. To answer most math problems, including almost all word problems, you need arithmetic. The most basic arithmetic is 2 plus 2, but as anyone who's ever taken algebra can tell you, it can get a lot more complicated than that.
Vocabulary lists containing arithmetic
Expressions and Equations
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Operations and Algebraic Thinking
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"Be-ers and Doers" and "My Moment of Truth"
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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.
See Examples For:
For the businesses that supply props, artwork and other services, the arithmetic is simpler: Any shoot is better than none.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Add a 3% real interest rate to roughly 7% inflation generated by rapid wage growth and the arithmetic becomes uncomfortable.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
“The arithmetic isn’t there for him to form a coalition,” said Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Makers of personal computers face the same arithmetic, though not all are equally exposed.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
However, I believe there may not be any single formulation of the fundamental theory any more than, as Godel showed, one could formulate arithmetic in terms of a single set of axioms.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
The arithmetics of distance and time were not cheering either.
From Time Magazine Archive
A catalogue of the arithmetics written before the year MDCI, with a description of those in the library of G. A. Plimpton.
From The Age of the Reformation by Preserved Smith
They even got cook-books and arithmetics and books about geometry—pity the poor soldiers.
From Roy Blakeley by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Lemprière was the great magician who summoned up before my delighted eyes the denizens of a sphere where existence was unvexed by any pestilent arithmetics, and where the slavery of the inky desk was unknown.
From My Unknown Chum by Charles Bullard Fairbanks
There the interruption of commerce with the North compelled a resort to home production in school-book literature, and intensity of feeling upon sectional questions found frequent expression in spelling-books and arithmetics.
From Noah Webster American Men of Letters by Horace E. Scudder
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.
