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

However, football is on TV five days a week in the fall, so the food can really add up. —Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Sep. 2025

That's $400 a month in utility and gasoline savings that could keep adding up, 15 years after the Green Idea House was finished. —Jeff Brady, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025

These micro-contributions add up, enabling even the smallest enterprises to participate in large-scale change. —Christopher Marquis, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025

The annual price tag at many prestigious schools hovers just under $100,000 when adding up tuition, fees, room and board, and books. —Susan Alaimo, USA Today, 19 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