total

adjective

to·tal | \ ˈtō-tᵊl

Definition of total

(Entry 1 of 4)

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

total

noun

Definition of total (Entry 2 of 4)

1 : a product of addition : sum

2 : an entire quantity : amount

total

verb

totaled or totalled; totaling or totalling

Definition of total (Entry 3 of 4)

transitive verb

1 : to add up : compute

2 : to amount to : number

3 : to make a total wreck of : demolish specifically : to damage so badly that the cost of repairs exceeds the market value of the vehicle totaled the car

total

adverb

Definition of total (Entry 4 of 4)

: totally

Other Words from total Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about total

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Choose the Right Synonym for total

Adjective

whole, entire, total, all mean including everything or everyone without exception. whole implies that nothing has been omitted, ignored, abated, or taken away. read the whole book entire may suggest a state of completeness or perfection to which nothing can be added. the entire population was wiped out total implies that everything has been counted, weighed, measured, or considered. the total number of people present all may equal whole, entire, or total. all proceeds go to charity

Examples of total in a Sentence

Adjective

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.

Noun

a total of 25 square miles that's the total for our wheat harvest this year

Verb

He carefully totaled the bill. two and two total four

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Rowing is also a total-body sport that can get your heart rate sky-high while challenging many different muscle groups. — Isadora Baum, SELF, "10 Things to Know Before Taking Your First Indoor Rowing Class," 27 Jan. 2019 Swan said the total available PC market was essentially flat. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Intel addresses processor shortages, CEO hunt after reporting disappointing fourth-quarter results," 24 Jan. 2019 The axions traveling toward the star generate a radio wave that is eventually reflected by the plasma, adding to the total signal power. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "Pulsars could convert dark matter into something we could see," 20 Dec. 2018 The Growth of a Movement Most recently, in response to mounting research about how social networks and a total sense of well-being contribute to good health, ChurchFIT developed a mental health ministry. — Marty Munson, Woman's Day, "One Woman Is Changing Lives By Bringing Health and Fitness to Church," 15 Nov. 2018 Beside having more than 24 hours of total battery life, their case also supports fast charging that tops it up to 50 percent in 15 minutes. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "RHA’s TrueConnect buds look like a promising AirPods rival," 4 Oct. 2018 Brianna ends up asking John to marry her as a way of avoiding being proposed to by a total stranger, which—actually, scratch that. — Mehera Bonner, Harper's BAZAAR, "Bree Just Got Engaged to Someone Who Is Not Roger on Outlander," 14 Jan. 2019 Many are for film or television—and have grown out of books picked by Witherspoon for her book club, an Oprah-like venture that lives chiefly on Instagram, where its total number of followers inches toward 800,000. — Zoë Ghertner, Vogue, "Reese Witherspoon: Activist, Advocate, Hollywood’s Moral Compass," 10 Jan. 2019 Camila's high-fashion fit might look a little intimidating, but the message is one to remember: boyfriend jeans and camel pleather are a total win. — Kelsey Stiegman, Seventeen, "10 Instagram-Worthy Ways to Wear Boyfriend Jeans," 8 Jan. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Just look at our exploding use of credit and debit cards: In 1990 debit cards in the U.S. were used for 300 million purchases; today the total exceeds 40 billion. — Town & Country, "Is This the End of Cash?," 28 Jan. 2019 The total of all the entry fees must reach a minimum of the listing amount of $1,700,000. — Maya Mcdowell, House Beautiful, "A Woman Is Giving Away Her $1.7 Million Dream Home For Just $25 In A Clever Contest," 25 Jan. 2019 The effect of those unsustainable price gains is evident in the slumping year-end sales totals tracked by the National Association of Realtors. — Josh Boak, The Seattle Times, "Analysis: Falling home sales not helping middle-class buyers," 23 Jan. 2019 That total represents about one sixth the number of deployed U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Does America Still Need the Nuclear Triad?," 23 Jan. 2019 Grammys Gaga currently has six Grammy Awards and was nominated for 24 total. — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "This Is How Close Lady Gaga Is to EGOT Status," 22 Jan. 2019 Called Foveros, the technology allowed Intel to stack logic chips, one on top of the other, to minimize the total die space that a multicore processor required. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Intel reveals its 10nm Ice Lake Core and stacked Lakefield CPUs, and 'Project Athena' for laptops," 7 Jan. 2019 According to It-colorist Lena Ott, taking Lish from jet-black to white-hot blonde took six hours total. — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, "This Wang Gang Model Just Went Extreme Platinum Blonde for the Alexander Wang Runway," 2 Dec. 2018 The video clearly shows the large round door belonging to one of the MACs, underneath each of which is six ready-to-fire Tomahawk cruise missiles, for a total of twelve cruise missiles per boat. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Come Take a Tour of America's Newest Nuclear Submarine," 7 Jan. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

China is Germany’s main trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two totaling €188 billion ($215.69 billion) in 2017, according to German government statistics. — Ruth Bender, WSJ, "Robotics Company Fuels Concerns about China Slowdown," 11 Jan. 2019 The utility owned an additional 10 excess properties not yet designated as surplus, totaling 73,000 square feet, according to an annual report. — Daniel Beekman, The Seattle Times, "Surplus City Light properties could be sold below market value for low-income housing," 30 July 2018 In operation since 1984, Geo owns or manages 141 prisons or detention centers totaling about 96,000 beds, according to the company website. — Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Boca-based Geo Group poised to profit from Trump order for illegal immigrant beds," 25 June 2018 In 2012, when Mr. Peña Nieto was running for office, Odebrecht made payments to British Virgin Islands accounts given to them by Mr. Lozoya totaling more than $3.1 million dollars, according to the testimony of the company officials. — Azam Ahmed, New York Times, "Mexico Could Press Bribery Charges. It Just Hasn’t.," 11 June 2018 The investment, totaling hundreds of millions of pounds, according to the people, could cut both ways. — Kaye Wiggins, Bloomberg.com, "Jaguar Land Rover Prepares for New Era Moving SUV From U.K.," 11 June 2018 Campbell has said the acquisition would allow for savings totaling about $170 million by the end of 2022. — Hannah Lang, charlotteobserver, "Snyder's-Lance had a tumultuous 105th year. Here's what's ahead for the snack maker.," 21 June 2018 Those who cashed in their winning tickets right away got their payouts, totalling around $1.7 million. — David Meyer, Fortune, "They Thought They'd Won $35 Million in the Lottery. Why These South Carolinians Are Getting $1 Each Instead," 1 June 2018 Leger's plan assumes the Legislature will approve taxes totaling around $643 million to avoid any major budget reductions to state services and programs. — Julia O'donoghue, NOLA.com, "More taxes included in budget proposals from Louisiana House," 29 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb

The ministry is proposing total defense spending of around $47.7 billion for the fiscal year starting in April, excluding funds to support U.S. forces in Japan. — Alastair Gale, WSJ, "Japan to Spend Billions on U.S. Missile-Defense System," 31 Aug. 2018 Others have estimated that the lawsuits total above 1,600. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Blockbuster drug Abilify nears Judgment Day over compulsive gambling, sex," 3 Aug. 2018 Season with salt and pepper and roast, tossing after 12 minutes, until golden brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes total; fold in baby kale and reserved bread cubes. — Anna Helm Baxter, Good Housekeeping, "Roasted Squash Panzanella," 24 Oct. 2018 There were 48 stops total resulting in eight arrests and 19 verbal warnings. — Olivia King, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan State Police ticket crackdown targets Southfield," 3 July 2018 He was charged with two earned runs total after LH Tom Windle (W, 4-2) pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief. — Nick Tricome, Philly.com, "Phillies minor league report: Lehigh Valley, Reading sweep doubleheaders," 27 May 2018 The Angels already have used 11 pitchers to start games and 25 pitchers total, the most ever for the franchise through the first 74 games of a season. — Jeff Miller, latimes.com, "Angels' Tyler Skaggs misses start over hamstring issue," 22 June 2018 Israel predicts that writing and following up on this letter will take your lawyer about three hours total, billed in five or ten-minute increments (so, somewhere between $400 and $900). — Charlotte Cowles, The Cut, "My Ex Boyfriend Owes Me $10,000. How Do I Get Him to Pay Me Back?," 7 June 2018 There were six styles total, ranging in price from $100 to $400—and, notably to many, featured the brand’s name, in lowercase, on the outside. — Halie Lesavage, Glamour, "How Kate Spade Built an Empire: A Timeline," 6 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.