add up
verb
added up;
adding up;
adds up
Definition of add up
1a
: 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
2a
: 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
: to form an opinion of
added him up at a glance
Examples of add up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Skip to main content SportsPulse: Big reputations don't always add up to big fantasy production. — Cory Bonini, USA TODAY, "Fantasy football: Late-round players to grab, avoid in your draft," 28 Aug. 2019 An atomic clock must be hyper-precise for travel through deep space, where everything is bigger and mistakes quickly can add up. — Scottie Andrew, CNN, "NASA launched a Deep Space Atomic Clock that's like a GPS for space," 28 Aug. 2019 The report comes from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, where researchers say the average auto commuter spent an extra 54 hours traveling, adding up to more than a week of vacation time. — Ricky Pinela, orlandosentinel.com, "Report: Orlando drivers average 57 hours in traffic each year," 23 Aug. 2019 The Hurricanes also ranked first last season in havoc rate—which is adding up a defense’s total number of tackles for a loss, passes defensed and forced fumbles, and dividing all of that by total plays. — Max Meyer, SI.com, "College Football Week 0 Best Bet: Defenses Have the Edge in Season Opener," 22 Aug. 2019 According to WeddingWire, total expenses for the average wedding add up to roughly $29,000. — Steven P. Dinkin, San Diego Union-Tribune, "The wedding plan: Perspective sharing," 18 Aug. 2019 That metaphor may sound as banal as described, but the act of playing this game—of wiping out cars, buildings, tanks, and armed forces in one American locale after another—adds up as an experience. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Metal Wolf Chaos XD: A weirdly timed return to 2004’s robo-blasting innocence," 6 Aug. 2019 The number of people in that group has been mostly shrinking but still added up to 4 million workers in July. — Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, "The latest jobs report shows no evidence of a potential economic recession," 2 Aug. 2019 Older cars or those that get more use may need more regular maintenance, and those costs can add up. — Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping, "Leasing vs. Buying a Car: How to Decide What's Right for You," 1 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'add up.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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