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
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The practice allows borrowers to skip payments for a time, but interest continues to add up. 
Chris Quintana, USA TODAY, 7 Sep. 2022 And as a first time Marathon trainee, those long run miles begin to add up. Jamie Prokell, Men's Health, 1 Sep. 2022 This week’s rain is starting to add up in parts of west Alabama as of Wednesday. Leigh Morgan, al, 24 Aug. 2022 For farmers surviving on less than a couple of dollars a day, the effect of these losses is substantial; for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, they are estimated to add up to hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Nicola Twilley, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 The math might not seem to add up, as the lists above contain a total of 68 medicines. Chris Smith, BGR, 9 Aug. 2022 All of this seems to add up in the collective imagination to an impression of a country on the brink, meeting all the conditions for a descent into civil unrest. Tom Mctague, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2022 But, like the number of songwriters credited on Beyoncé’s song, the responses to her tweet started to add up, too. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2022 That means switching to cold water can add up to some major energy savings. Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Aug. 2022 See More
Chris Quintana, USA TODAY, 7 Sep. 2022 And as a first time Marathon trainee, those long run miles begin to add up. Jamie Prokell, Men's Health, 1 Sep. 2022 This week’s rain is starting to add up in parts of west Alabama as of Wednesday. Leigh Morgan, al, 24 Aug. 2022 For farmers surviving on less than a couple of dollars a day, the effect of these losses is substantial; for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, they are estimated to add up to hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Nicola Twilley, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 The math might not seem to add up, as the lists above contain a total of 68 medicines. Chris Smith, BGR, 9 Aug. 2022 All of this seems to add up in the collective imagination to an impression of a country on the brink, meeting all the conditions for a descent into civil unrest. Tom Mctague, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2022 But, like the number of songwriters credited on Beyoncé’s song, the responses to her tweet started to add up, too. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2022 That means switching to cold water can add up to some major energy savings. Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1850, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 2
- take as read
- take aside
- take attendance
- take away
- take away from
- take away from (something)
- take away from something
- take back
- take board
- take by storm
- take by surprise
- take care
- take care of
- take care of business
- take center stage
- take chances
- take coals to newcastle
- take cognizance of
- take comfort in
- take delight in
- take delivery of
- take dictation
- take down
- take drugs
- take each day as it comes