total

adjective to·tal \ ˈtō-tᵊl \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: total in a Sentence

Definition of total

1 : comprising or constituting a whole : entire

the total amount

2 : absolute, utter

a total failure

a total stranger

3 : involving a complete and unified effort especially to achieve a desired effect

total war

total theater

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Examples of total in a Sentence

a total lack of support
a total eclipse of the sun
He demanded total control of the project.
What was the total amount of the bill?
the total number of words
The country has a total population of about 100 million.

Recent Examples of total from the Web

In fact, the total number of winning female directors across all years can be counted on two hands.

— craig nakano, latimes.com, "Marianne Elliott, the British director who sent 'Angels in America' back into flight," 7 June 2018
Their deaths bring the total number of victims that police believe were killed by Jones to six.

— crimesider staff, CBS News, "Arizona couple killed in shooting spree were friends with suspected gunman," 7 June 2018
An additional group of scholars will be announced in July, bringing the total number of Merit Scholarship recipients in the 2018 competition to 7,500.

— andrew reed, idahostatesman, "See where Idaho's National Merit Scholars are from," 6 June 2018
About 4,000 of the job cuts are scheduled to be completed this year, pushing the total number of employees below 93,000 from over 97,000 at the end of March, von Moltke said.

— steven arons, Bloomberg.com, "Deutsche Bank Says Expect Another Quarter of Falling Revenue," 6 June 2018
You are not guaranteed to win a prize and your chance of winning is dependent on the total number of eligible entries received.

— The Cut, "Enter to Win $500 Worth of Jewelry and Tickets to Broadway’s Hottest Play," 5 June 2018
The two new Frontier routes bring the total number of nonstop routes out of San Antonio International Airport to 54, with 25 of those operated by Frontier, the airport said.

— joshua fechter, San Antonio Express-News, "Frontier Airlines adds 2 nonstop flights to San Antonio airport," 5 June 2018
That brings the total number of companies — which already includes Microsoft, Dell, HP, and Lenovo — up to six.

— jacob kastrenakes, The Verge, "Sprint and Intel say they’ll offer 5G PCs next year," 5 June 2018
Four patients in the study treated at active doses of BB2121 have died since the last December update, raising the total number of deaths to six.

— adam feuerstein, STAT, "Bluebird Bio CAR-T delays multiple myeloma progression by one year, but is that enough?," 1 June 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of total

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin totalis, from Latin totus whole, entire

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

total Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of total

whole, entire, total, all mean including everything or everyone without exception. whole implies that nothing has been omitted, ignored, abated, or taken away.