tally

American  

[tal-ee] / ˈtæl i /

noun

tallies plural

1. an account or reckoning; a record of debit and credit, of the score of a game, or the like.

   Synonyms:

   enumeration, count, inventory

2. Also called tally stick.  a stick of wood with notches cut to indicate the amount of a debt or payment, often split lengthwise across the notches, the debtor retaining one piece and the creditor the other.

3. anything on which a score or account is kept.

4. a notch or mark made on or in a tally.

5. a number or group of items recorded.

6. a mark made to register a certain number of items, as four consecutive vertical lines with a diagonal line through them to indicate a group of five.

7. a number of objects serving as a unit of computation.

8. a ticket, label, or mark used as a means of identification, classification, etc.

9. anything corresponding to another thing as a counterpart or duplicate.

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verb (used with object)

tallied, tallying

1. to mark or enter on a tally; register; record.

   Synonyms:

   list, enroll

2. to count or reckon up.

   Synonyms:

   calculate, enumerate

3. to furnish with a tally or identifying label.

4. to cause to correspond or agree.

verb (used without object)

tallied, tallying

1. to correspond, as one part of a tally with the other; accord or agree.

   Does his story tally with hers?

2. to score a point or make a goal, as in a game.

tally British  

/ ˈtælɪ /

verb

1. (intr) to correspond one with the other

   the two stories don't tally

2. (tr) to supply with an identifying tag

3. (intr) to keep score

4. obsolete (tr) to record or mark

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noun

1. any record of debit, credit, the score in a game, etc

2. a ticket, label, or mark, used as a means of identification, classification, etc

3. a counterpart or duplicate of something, such as the counterfoil of a cheque

4. a stick used (esp formerly) as a record of the amount of a debt according to the notches cut in it

5. a notch or mark cut in or made on such a stick

6. a mark or number of marks used to represent a certain number in counting

7. the total number of sheep shorn by one shearer in a specified period of time

Other Word Forms

• retally
  noun
• tallier
  noun
• untallied
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of tally

1275–1325; (noun) Middle English taly < Medieval Latin talia, variant of Latin tālea rod, cutting, literally, heel-piece, derivative of tālus heel; (v.) late Middle English talyen, derivative of the noun

Explanation

A tally is a continuous count of something, like the number of words in a document, or the number of favors your best friend owes you. To tally is to add up, like keeping the score of a game. The word tally has to do with counting. It comes from the Latin word for “stick” because people used to keep a tally by marking a stick. Tally can be the total, or the act of adding it all up. If you count the bikers riding by, your count is a tally. As a verb, tally is used for keeping score. Two friends playing basketball need to tally the points after each basket so they don't lose track.

Example Sentences

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and others who decamped from OpenAI, raised $65 billion from investors including Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital and others, about half OpenAI’s tally that closed earlier this year.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Manilow notes proudly that the song, which was produced by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, recently made Billboard’s adult contemporary chart, extending his run on that tally beyond the half-century mark.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026

Included in the tally was more than $5,000 for the ambulance ride to Kansas, which Washington Regional was unwilling to pay for.

From Salon • May 27, 2026

In his debut season at Liverpool, he provided a combined goals and assists tally of 58, averaging one goal involvement every 71 minutes.

From BBC • May 23, 2026

This tally of instruments, occasionally beefed up by timpani and trumpets, was the template for the classical orchestra as used by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and their contemporaries.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• itemize
• register
• write down