total

1 of 4

adjective

to·tal ˈtō-tᵊl

: comprising or constituting a whole : entire

the total amount

: absolute, utter

a total failure

a total stranger

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

total war

total theater

total

2 of 4

noun

: a product of addition : sum

: an entire quantity : amount

total

3 of 4

verb

totaled or totalled; totaling or totalling

transitive verb

: to add up : compute

: to amount to : number

: 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

4 of 4

adverb

: totally

Choose the Right Synonym for total

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

Example Sentences

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 See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

China reported Friday that 25,353 individuals had tested positive the previous day, bringing its total number of symptomatic cases to 281,793.

Lyric Li, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2022 That led to new polling places for most Chicago voters, though the total number of locations wasn’t significantly reduced.

Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 18 Nov. 2022 For the last several months, the total number of home sales has been decreasing in Baldwin County, as interest rates have increased.

Margaret Kates | Mkates@al.com, al, 17 Nov. 2022 The shortfall in daily ambulance hours — the total number of on-duty hours for all ambulances operating in the city on a particular day — and the poor response times are primarily the result of staffing shortages.

David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Nov. 2022 This year's total number of U.S. executions is already higher than last year's more than three-decades low of 11.

CBS News, 16 Nov. 2022 That number claims to be the total number of those arrested since the beginning of the protests.

Adam Pourahmadi, CNN, 16 Nov. 2022 The total number of students who died at the schools could be in the tens of thousands, according to the Interior Department.

NBC news, 16 Nov. 2022 The number of mail ballots cast in Pennsylvania through Oct. 26 was four times as many as the total number of mail ballots cast in 2018, according to figures from the U.S. Elections Project and the Associated Press.

WSJ, 15 Nov. 2022

Noun

Qataris number around 350,000, though the conservative Muslim nation is home to around 3 million people from 90 countries in total.

Elizabeth Kuhr, NBC News, 20 Nov. 2022 During the same period the year earlier, police were called only about half that often, 34 times in total.

Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Nov. 2022 The 2023 Grammy nominations were announced earlier this week, with Beyoncé scoring the most nominations (nine in total).

Lisa Respers France, CNN, 19 Nov. 2022 The Tarblooders finished with 499 yards in total, including a 14-of-18 passing night by quarterback Deonte Rucker.

Matt Goul, cleveland, 19 Nov. 2022 In total, Wu said the effort would create about 300 new housing units.

Andrew Brinker, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Nov. 2022 The low estimate, made by the U.S. military in the 1940s, is that the two bombs killed 110,000 people in total.

Kelsey D. Atherton, The Atlantic, 18 Nov. 2022 The 1980s-set film, which follows a young schoolteacher forced to lead a double life, has been nominated for 13 BIFAs in total, including best British independent film.

Manori Ravindran, Variety, 18 Nov. 2022 In total, Nickelback has released nine studio albums (with Get Rollin' being their tenth).

Brianne Tracy, Peoplemag, 18 Nov. 2022

Verb

The company serves 133,729 customers total in Butler County.

Erin Couch, The Enquirer, 27 Oct. 2022 Ace Justin Verlander has been great this season and the Houston bullpen has been very strong overall, holding the Mariners to nine runs total in the three game ALDS sweep.

Ian Firstenberg, Chicago Tribune, 19 Oct. 2022 There are now 194,921 students total in public higher education in Utah.

Courtney Tanner, The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Oct. 2022 He was sacked four times in the first half and seven times total in the loss.

Tyler Dragon, USA TODAY, 4 Oct. 2022 There will be eight films total in four double features; five of the titles will be shown in 35mm film prints.

Brendel Hightower, Detroit Free Press, 22 Sep. 2022 The hotline received a little over 1,600 calls total in 2021, with reports peaking twice in March and December.

oregonlive, 1 July 2022 Ison estimated there were eight officers total in the lot at the time of the shooting.

Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 30 Mar. 2022 Segal’s exit package is likely to total $44.5 million, including $43.8 million in accelerated equity, Equilar said.

Theo Francis, WSJ, 28 Oct. 2022

Adverb

Tom Brady, the greatest winner of this generation, has won total.

Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Aug. 2022 What makes his opinions potentially tricky is the fact that Britain has a constitutional monarchy, which is very different from the type of absolute monarchies that wield total, undemocratic political power in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Alexander Smith, NBC News, 8 Sep. 2022 The offensive player to watch is C Logan Gallina (.333, 21 HR, 62 RBIs), the only Aggies player with a double-digit home run total.

San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 June 2022 Last year, there were five ozone action days total.

Liliana Webb, Detroit Free Press, 11 July 2022 Golden Gate, with a difficulty rating of 5.13b, contains 41 pitches total, with the toughest ones awaiting in the final ten, which is partly what makes the route such a demanding one to free-climb within 24 hours.

Andrew Bisharat, Outside Online, 6 Nov. 2020 Their lineup suffered one of its quietest nights all year, matching its season-low run total on just four hits.

Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2022 Now a junior, Bond is well on his way from breaking last year's home run total.

Shelby Dermer, The Enquirer, 7 Apr. 2022 The 28 points scored total in the second quarter comes out to a 2.8-point-per-second-quarter average.

Steve Svekis, sun-sentinel.com, 12 Nov. 2021 See More

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.