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)

• tallies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tallied,
  past participle,  past
• tallying
  present participle

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)

• tallies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tallied,
  past participle,  past
• tallying
  present participle

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

Derived Forms

• retally
  noun
• tallier
  noun
• untallied
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tallies
  plural

Participles

• tallying
  present
• tallied
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• tally
  simple
• tallies
  simple
• have tallied
  perfect
• has tallied
  perfect
• am tallying
  progressive
• are tallying
  progressive
• is tallying
  progressive
• have been tallying
  perfect progressive
• has been tallying
  perfect progressive

Past

• tallied
  simple
• had tallied
  perfect
• was tallying
  progressive
• were tallying
  progressive
• had been tallying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will tally
  simple
• will have tallied
  perfect
• will be tallying
  progressive
• will have been tallying
  perfect progressive

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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

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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

See Examples For:

tally tallies tallied tallying

Instead, major U.S. equity indexes like the S&P 500 are on track to tally a fourth straight year of double-digit returns.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026

It remains the highest tally any side has been relegated with across a 38-game Premier League campaign.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

While there is no official tally of how much church land nationwide could be developed, studies suggest it is vast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

And the always-reliable Edward Norton would increase his tally to five.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Being a tally messenger was a highly coveted position.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

It has resulted in more than 4,000 people, including many senior citizens and Holocaust survivors, being arrested for showing their support for the group, according to campaigners and police tallies.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

While official results weren’t available, tallies posted by Fain’s campaign showed his garnering about 68% of the vote as of Friday afternoon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Second, the ITC tallies Iran's exports using mostly the import numbers reported by its trading partners - owing to the difficulty in getting up to date export data from Iran.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

The report tallies symptoms and the diagnosis of 1,306 patients who were treated at mobile clinics during a roughly six-week period after the fire started June 17.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

She ducked inside, refastened the latch, and picked her way past the empty desks with their neat stacks of orders and tallies.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

We looked back in the database, external over the last 20 years and found it has tallied 325 convictions as a result of the fraudulent use of postal ballots.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

Media Matters tallied at least five hours and 18 minutes of network airtime devoted to the unrest between Saturday and Wednesday morning.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

The Venice Police Department in Venice, Fla., tallied one federal immigration detention in September 2025 and has since requested a total of $895,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Since the start of this year, Yemen has tallied nearly 8,000 suspected cholera cases, including 22 deaths, and more than 9,600 dengue cases, including 37 people who had died, according to the WHO.

From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026

“I’ve tallied the results. These are not official tryouts, but the students with very high scores today are Paula, Claire, Rose, and Connor.”

From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

A recent study on financial caregiving by financial firm Edward Jones broke down tasks of a financial caregiver in more detail, tallying it at an average of 109 hours per month.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

A library spokesperson said they were still tallying the number of card sign-ups, but at least 4,400 had been issued as of Friday afternoon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Mundubile, who trailed behind with 38%, plans to challenge the outcome in court after alleging the tallying process had been tampered with.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

With ongoing uncertainty about when the conflict in Iran will end, finance chiefs are tallying up the damage as a fresh wave of earnings reports rolls in.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

He’s tallying up the scores again—and again he has the lowest score so far.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

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Related Words

• itemize
• register
• write down

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