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 of add up

• 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

No other candidate polled higher than 5%, but together, the rest of them added up to 30%. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026

Maersk’s new emergency contingency surcharges for cargo exiting ports across Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are going into effect Friday, and add up to as much as $3,300 per TEU when headed to Latin America and the Caribbean. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 5 Mar. 2026

For a single senior filer, all that adds up to a total deduction of $23,750 from your income. —Terry Savage, Chicago Tribune, 5 Mar. 2026

The mayors of the three cities, though, say the math isn't quite adding up. —Andrea Nakano, CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026

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