sum total

noun

1. complete numerical total.

   the sum total of my savings.

2. essence; substance.

   The sum total of research in the field.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sum total¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Idioms and Phrases

The entirety, everything, as in I spent all day in the kitchen and the sum total of my efforts is this cake. [Mid-1600s]

Example Sentences

“The sum total,” Buttu said, ”is we have no Hamas, no Palestinian Authority, and just Israel.”

From Los Angeles Times

Starting in the 1950s and up to 2019, there was a sum total of roughly 2,000 operating satellites in orbit.

From Salon

Europe is a sum total of different countries with different-sized budgets and diverse domestic politics and priorities.

From BBC

The sum total of these ideas is our culture, which “makes our individual lives rich and fulfilling,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

In other words, the sum total of that company’s annual contracts adds up to the equivalent of the entire U.S. budget for diplomacy.

From Salon

Related Words

• summation 
• totality