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

Examples of add up in a Sentence

whether we take the 4:00 train or the 4:15 bus, it adds up to the same thing: they both get us back too late

even if we pool all our money, it won't add up to enough to rent a beach house for a week

Recent Examples on the Web

But if that suggested maybe Alex had been depressed and took her own life, there were other things that didn't seem to add up in Ecker's account. —Natalie Morales, CBS News, 26 Oct. 2024

Even if the numbers didn’t really add up, the Gilded Age GOP embraced tariffs as an instrument to make people wealthier, safer and better behaved (reflecting the Protestant morality that dominated the party’s outlook). —Bruce J. Schulman / Made By History, TIME, 24 Oct. 2024

Option to add up to five additional memberships for the family for only $6 per month (or $66 annually) each. —Chris Sims, The Courier-Journal, 23 Oct. 2024

Other killings, orchestrated by Manson, would begin to add up. —Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 2

Kids Definition

add up

verb

1

a

: to come to a total and especially the expected total

b

: to make sense

her story just doesn't add up

2

: to amount to a lot

just a little each time, but it all adds up