add up

added up; adding up; adds up

Definition of add up

intransitive verb

1a : 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

2a : amount sense 1b —used with tothe 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

Examples of add up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web When all the box-office numbers were added up, Cast Away earned a whopping $429 million worldwide. — Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, "Golden Globe Winner Tom Hanks Was “Almost Killed” While Filming the Movie 'Cast Away'," 6 Jan. 2020 The wings, tail, and fuselage were all seriously damaged by the incident, adding up to a cost of more than $2.5 million. — Rob Verger, Popular Science, "A pilot passed out while flying an F-15 over Oregon. Here’s what happened next.," 3 Jan. 2020 Rossmann estimates the makeup for her and her husband costs around $350 for one night, while a full-family service including her daughter, 11, and son, 8, can add up to $800. — Lindsay Schallon, Glamour, "Meet the Women Spending Hundreds on Halloween Makeup," 31 Oct. 2019 Overall, the village’s share of the property tax levy will increase by less than 5% in 2020, adding up to an increase of about $90 on average for a resident with a $670,000 home who pays $15,000 a year in property taxes, Braiman said. — Karen Ann Cullotta, chicagotribune.com, "Nearly half of Wilmette’s $100 million budget will pay for capital improvements like road repairs and flood relief projects," 6 Dec. 2019 But in drinking water, the US Environmental Protection Agency recommends that municipalities alert the public if two of the most common chemicals add up to 70 parts per trillion. — BostonGlobe.com, "QUINCY — The sludge arrives by the ton, pumped through miles of underwater pipes from Deer Island to a waste-water treatment plant on the banks of the Weymouth Fore River, where it’s spun through centrifuges into a kind of wet cake, dried by large furnaces, and made into fertilizer pellets.," 2 Dec. 2019 But over time, as these small injuries add up, more and more lung tissue becomes involved, and symptoms develop. — Cosby Stone, The Conversation, "Vitamin E and vaping injuries: What’s safe in your diet is rarely safe in your lungs," 22 Nov. 2019 Storage can be expanded using a MicroSD card, which is probably a good idea since apps can add up. — Wired, "Our Favorite Kids Tablet Is $40 Off Right Now," 7 Nov. 2019 The latest drop is consistent with the past five years, adding up to a 5 percent decline, about 3,500 students, since the 2014-2015 school year. — Ashley Mcbride, ExpressNews.com, "San Antonio’s biggest school districts are eyeing the charters next door," 2 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'add up.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about add up

Dictionary Entries near add up

adductor impression

Statistics for add up

Last Updated

12 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Add up.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/add%20up. Accessed 22 January 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

nurture

to help to grow, develop, or succeed

Test Your Vocabulary

Intact Latin Quiz

What did focus mean in Latin?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Dictionary Devil

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.