total
Americanadjective
-
constituting or comprising the whole; entire; whole.
the total expenditure.
- Synonyms:
- complete
-
of or relating to the whole of something.
the total effect of a play.
-
complete in extent or degree; absolute; unqualified; utter.
a total failure.
-
involving all aspects, elements, participants, resources, etc.; unqualified; all-out.
total war.
noun
-
totals
plural
verb (used with object)
-
totals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
totaled,
past participle, past
-
totalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
totaling,
present participle
-
totalling
present participle (especially British)
-
to bring to a total; add up.
-
to reach a total of; amount to.
-
Slang. to wreck or demolish completely.
He totaled his new car in the accident.
verb (used without object)
-
totals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
totaled,
past participle, past
-
totalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
totaling,
present participle
-
totalling
present participle (especially British)
noun
adjective
-
complete; absolute
the evening was a total failure
a total eclipse
-
(prenominal) being or related to a total
the total number of passengers
verb
-
to amount
to total six pounds
-
(tr) to add up
to total a list of prices
-
slang (tr) to kill or badly injure (someone)
-
(tr) to damage (a vehicle) beyond repair
Usage
What does total mean? Total describes the wholeness or entirety of something, like the total amount of cake you ate last night. If you ate the total cake, you ate the entire cake (and might have felt sick afterward!). Total describes the breadth of something either physically or conceptually. For example, your total order describes all the items in your purchase. While if you’re a total success, you are completely successful. A total is the complete amount or sum. The total on your restaurant bill is the entire amount of money you owe for your meal. A total can also be the entirety of something. The total of your book collection would be all the books you own, and the total of your sports equipment is all the equipment you own. Finally, to total is to add up (to total your bill) or to reach an amount, as in The bill totalled up to $56. 75. Example: The total on the bill is higher than I expected because I forgot about sales tax.
Synonym Usage
See whole.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
supertotalnoun
-
retotalverb (used with object)
-
quasi-totaladjective
-
untotaledadjective
-
untotalledadjective
-
quasi-totallyadverb
-
totallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
totalsimple
-
totalssimple
-
have totaledperfect
-
have totalledperfect
-
has totaledperfect
-
has totalledperfect
-
am totalingprogressive
-
am totallingprogressive
-
are totalingprogressive
-
are totallingprogressive
-
is totalingprogressive
-
is totallingprogressive
-
have been totalingperfect progressive
-
have been totallingperfect progressive
-
has been totalingperfect progressive
-
has been totallingperfect progressive
Past
-
totaledsimple
-
totalledsimple
-
had totaledperfect
-
had totalledperfect
-
was totalingprogressive
-
was totallingprogressive
-
were totalingprogressive
-
were totallingprogressive
-
had been totalingperfect progressive
-
had been totallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of total
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (adjective), from Medieval Latin tōtālis , equivalent to Latin tōt(us) “entire” + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
There are many meanings of total, but they all have something to do with completeness. A total is a whole or complete amount, and "to total" is to add numbers or to destroy something. In math, you total numbers by adding them: the result is the total. If you add 8 and 8, the total is 16. If a car is totaled in an accident, it has been completely destroyed. A total defeat is a complete and utter defeat with no chance of recovering. The total resources of a company are all its resources, everything it has.
Vocabulary lists containing total
Eclipse Vocabulary
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Measurement and Data, List 1
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Operations and Algebraic Thinking
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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:
That marks an increase of 156,000 people from the end of last year, and accounts for roughly 3.5 percent of Japan's total population, according to calculations based on government estimates.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
He says he survived for eight months in total isolation.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Higher volume could then generate more total profit.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Ukraine imported more than $19.6 billion in Chinese goods this year, nearly 30% of its total imports and more than three times the amount from Poland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Monty left the room, closing the door behind her, and for the first time in as long as Sara could remember, she enjoyed a feeling of total peace and privacy.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Total funding for cybersecurity startups reached $12.7 billion by the end of September, surpassing full-year totals going back to 2020.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
CPL shared the post on Instagram, where other patrons began volunteering their totals in the comments — a spontaneous little leaderboard for people whose competitive edge expresses itself through returning DVDs on time.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
Garreaud said precipitation totals reached levels "rarely seen in the otherwise extremely arid region."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
According to the Met Office, there is also a small chance of considerably higher totals, particularly over east-facing higher ground, where more than 75mm could fall within 12 hours.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Now take a look at the last column, which totals up all the summer gains from first grade to fifth grade.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, totaled 1.71 million in the week through Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
These funds provide retirement benefits to more than 750,000 people, and their assets under management totaled $330 billion at the end of August.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Trading volume totaled $249 billion between August 2025 and July 2026, according to Kalshi and Polymarket data analyzed by Pew Research Center.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
The Wine Institute, which represents California wineries, said in a report that U.S. wine exports totaled $805 million in 2025, down 35% from 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
It was a doe, so no antlers, but she was big, and she would have totaled the car, rolling right up the windshield and into us.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
An undercover reporter recorded two senior Reform aides apparently suggesting a way around electoral law to secure foreign party donations, one of which would have totalled £500,000.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
In the 10 months preceding the war, Iran's trade with the UAE totalled $21 billion according to official Iranian figures.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Foreign arrival numbers into the country have broken records each year, and totalled 97 million in 2025.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
In contrast, Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.5 million in March, up 4.9% on-year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
By midday our run totalled a hundred and twenty-five miles, a very fair record, all things considered.
From The Kidnapped President by Guy Newell Boothby
My other assets, totaling $6 million, are divided equally.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Paxton took out mortgages totaling $1.9 million for them, according to legal documents filed with the local county.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
The firm has so far secured commitments totaling $7.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said, and plans to use the capital to invest in roughly 10 late-stage companies over the next two years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
In all, the Interior Department denied 78 financial assistance requests from the Great Basin Institute totaling more than $12.7 million, according to a letter from Chief Executive Peter Woodruff appealing the denials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Thus I have created an opportunity for Lambert to earn back everything I took from the city—a fortune totaling $40 million at my last reckoning.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
After bumper second-quarter profits both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics announced buybacks totalling $40 billion that were completed earlier than expected in mid-October.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Only six female jockeys have had rides in British Classics in 250 years, totalling 12 rides, according to the National Horseracing Museum.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
More than 60% — totalling an estimated 3,633 homeless people — live within a mile of downtown venues and face possible expulsion, the report said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Before the war, trade between Kuwait and Iran was robust, totalling roughly $300 million in 2024, according to Kuwaiti media citing the two countries' joint chamber of commerce.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
This fateful afternoon it happened that Terry's collections reached a larger amount than usual, totalling up nearly fifty dollars.
From Terry's Trials and Triumphs by J. Macdonald (James Macdonald) Oxley
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