add up

verb

added up; adding up; adds up

intransitive verb

1

a

: to come to the expected total

the bill doesn't add up

b

: to form an intelligible pattern : make sense

her story just doesn't add up

2

a

: amount sense 1b

—used with to

the play adds up to a lot of laughs

b

: to amount to a lot

just a little each time, but it all adds up

transitive verb

: to form an opinion of

added him up at a glance

Synonyms

• come (to)
• correspond (to)
• amount (to)

Examples of add up in a Sentence

whether we take the 4:00 train or the 4:15 bus, it adds up to the same thing: they both get us back too late

even if we pool all our money, it won't add up to enough to rent a beach house for a week

Recent Examples on the Web

And since so many lotto tickets are sold each year, that 1% estimate adds up to more than $1 billion. —Chris Isidore, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2025

All these little touches add up to a chocolate Bundt that is far more than the sum of its parts. —Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 6 Sep. 2025

In San Jose, the cost of these solutions adds up to tens of millions of dollars or more, Mahan said. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 5 Sep. 2025

Manufacturing shed 12,000 jobs in August, adding up to a 78,000 loss this year to date. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 2

Rhymes for add up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

add up

verb

1

a

: to come to a total and especially the expected total

b

: to make sense

her story just doesn't add up

2

: to amount to a lot

just a little each time, but it all adds up