tally

1 of 2

noun

tal·​ly ˈta-lē How to pronounce tally (audio)
plural tallies
1
a
: a recorded reckoning or account (as of items or charges)
keep a daily tally of accidents
b
: a score or point made (as in a game)
2
: a device (such as a notched rod or mechanical counter) for visibly recording or accounting especially business transactions
3
a
: a part that corresponds to an opposite or companion member : complement
b
: a state of correspondence or agreement

tally

2 of 2

verb

tallied; tallying

transitive verb

1
a
: to record on or as if on a tally : tabulate
b
: to list or check off (something, such as a cargo) by items
c
: to register (a score) in a contest
2
: to make a count of : reckon
3
: to cause to correspond

intransitive verb

1
a
: to make a tally by or as if by tabulating
b
: to register a point in a contest : score
2

Examples of tally in a Sentence

Noun What is the final tally? Her second goal turned out to be the game-winning tally. Verb He tallied his expenses every day. The numbers on the old list and the new list don't tally.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The Legendary and Warner Bros. sci-fi epic opened last weekend to a stellar $82.5 million domestically and finished Thursday with a North American tally of more than $110 million and $200 million globally. Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Mar. 2024 What the latest job numbers mean for the Fed That count of jobs added is down from January's unexpectedly strong tally of 229,000 — revised down from 290,000 — and 333,000 in December. Kate Gibson, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2024 Last month’s total landed slightly below economists’ expectations for a net gain of 150,000 jobs but above ADP’s January tally, which was upwardly revised to 111,000 hires. Alicia Wallace, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 Though the total force size of the MSS has been quoted at roughly 2,500, neither the U.N. nor the United States has given a tally of how many police officers would be involved in the entire operation. Michael Wilner, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024 Premium large formats, like Imax and Dolby, contributed a massive 48% of the film’s tally. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 4 Mar. 2024 Its counts from previous wars have largely matched those of the U.N., independent experts and even Israel's own tallies. Wafaa Shurafa, arkansasonline.com, 1 Mar. 2024 The group has only sent two tunes to the tally, with this latest win immediately becoming their first top 10, and now their only ruler. Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 There’s also less pressure to keep an eye on the tally of player lives. Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
Currently, a measure that would allow the city to require voter identification in local elections is winning as votes in the recent primary election continue to be tallied. Heather McRea, Orange County Register, 8 Mar. 2024 The Longhorns were led by sophomore Stryker Reed, who tallied 27 points and made four 3-pointers. Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Mar. 2024 These early election results will change throughout the ballot counting canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and other ballots are tallied. Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2024 The fallout of these changes may not be fully understood until a final count of complaints by outside groups and the state's board of elections are tallied, but many express that more training and education will be needed ahead of November. Phillip M. Bailey, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2024 The Watts native also leads the Trojans in rebounds with 7.2 per game and tallied 2.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per game to earn conference all-defensive honorable mention, along with teammate Rayah Marshall. Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2024 By 2034, China will become the second-largest fleet worldwide — displacing Western Europe which slips to No. 3. Biggest-fleet honors throughout the decade will remain with North America, where the fleet today tallies 8,200. Oliver Wyman, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 In the Republican primary, about 1.1 million people voted, while in the less competitive Democratic primary, around 740,000 cast their vote as of results tallied Wednesday morning. Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024 That process involves opening tens of thousands of ballots that have been returned in envelopes, assigning each a voter number and putting the ballots through machines that tally the votes — all while continuing to receive absentee ballots throughout election day from voters across 350 wards. Alison Dirr, Journal Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tally.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English talye, from Anglo-French talie, taille, in part from tailler to cut, measure, count; in part from Medieval Latin tallia, alteration of Latin talea plant cutting, thin piece of wood

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of tally was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near tally

Cite this Entry

“Tally.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tally. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tally

1 of 2 noun
tal·​ly ˈtal-ē How to pronounce tally (audio)
plural tallies
1
: a device for keeping a count
2
a
: a recorded account
b
: a total recorded
3
: a score or point made (as in a game)

tally

2 of 2 verb
tallied; tallying
1
: to keep a count of
2
: to make a tally : score
3

More from Merriam-Webster on tally

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