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

For the organizations that were set to receive and distribute the money, the accusations from Zeldin don’t add up, and cloud the money’s purpose. —Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 27 Mar. 2025

All of this adds up to a team that has potential, but in a division with no runaway favorite, potential creates opportunity. —Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025

This would add up to $10.5 million for any voyage that involves three West Coast ports—typical of a 10,000-container Cosco ship travelling the trans-Pacific route. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 24 Mar. 2025

These investments add up to a platform for edge AI development and deployment that accelerates Dragonwing adoption, expands the developer community and has the potential to redefine the industrial IoT supply chain by enabling an ISV software ecosystem. —Bill Curtis, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 2

Rhymes for add up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

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