total

[toht-l]

adjective

1. constituting or comprising the whole; entire; whole.

   the total expenditure.

   Synonyms: complete

2. of or relating to the whole of something.

   the total effect of a play.

3. complete in extent or degree; absolute; unqualified; utter.

   a total failure.

4. involving all aspects, elements, participants, resources, etc.; unqualified; all-out.

   total war.

noun

1. the total amount; sum; aggregate.

   a total of $200.

   Synonyms: totality, gross

2. the whole; an entirety.

   the impressive total of Mozart's achievement.

   Synonyms: totality, gross

verb (used with object)

totaled, totaling , totalled, totalling .

1. to bring to a total; add up.

2. to reach a total of; amount to.

3. Slang.,  to wreck or demolish completely.

   He totaled his new car in the accident.

verb (used without object)

totaled, totaling , totalled, totalling .

1. to amount (often followed byto ).

total

/ ˈtəʊtəl /

noun

1. the whole, esp regarded as the complete sum of a number of parts

adjective

1. complete; absolute

   the evening was a total failure

   a total eclipse

2. (prenominal) being or related to a total

   the total number of passengers

verb

1. to amount

   to total six pounds

2. (tr) to add up

   to total a list of prices

3. slang,  (tr) to kill or badly injure (someone)

4. (tr) to damage (a vehicle) beyond repair

Other Word Forms

• quasi-total adjective
• quasi-totally adverb
• retotal verb (used with object)
• supertotal noun
• untotaled adjective
• untotalled adjective
• totally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of total¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (adjective), from Medieval Latin tōtālis , equivalent to Latin tōt(us) “entire” + -ālis -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of total¹

C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin tōtālis, from Latin tōtus all

Synonym Study

See whole.

Example Sentences

Her gritty half-century laid the foundation for a competitive total after the Kiwis had wobbled to 38-3.

Read more on Barron's

Marvell’s expansive data center AI platform, which spans optics, storage, and circuits, taps a $95 billion total addressable market, the firm wrote.

Read more on Barron's

The two main numbers you’re looking at are ordinary income and total taxable income — commonly referred to as adjusted gross income or AGI.

Read more on MarketWatch

Economists are assessing the impact of the central bank’s decision to lower rates by 50 basis points, bringing the total reduction in the official cash rate to 300 basis points since mid-2024.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Those activities generate high income, but the BDCs also generate high expenses—hundreds of times higher than, say, an exchange-traded fund that invests in bonds at a total annual cost of 0.03%.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• absolute 
• comprehensive 
• entire 
• full 
• outright 
• overall 
• sheer 
• unconditional 
• unlimited 
• unrestricted 
• utter 

When To Use

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.