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

• amount (to)
• come (to)
• correspond (to)
• emulate
• equal

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

That added up to 13 of the 14 lottery picks being college freshmen. —Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 14 May 2025

His strengths could unlock the offense and help Lamb, but the lack-of-effort plays add up and could hurt Dallas at inopportune times. —Ted Nguyen, New York Times, 13 May 2025

Meanwhile, McDonald’s is going on a hiring spree, adding up to 375,000 new employees this summer. —Maria Gracia Santillana Linares, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025

The National Weather Service’s annual budget is just $1.3 billion — and yet its services add up to billions of dollars in economic benefits and untold numbers of lives saved. —Umair Irfan, Vox, 12 May 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