add up

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To add up is to make sense as a whole, or to total numbers. It doesn't add up, add up the column, the story adds up.

The figurative sense is a quiet accusation: saying an account does not add up means you suspect it without saying so. The literal sense is arithmetic. It also means to accumulate — the small costs add up.

Definitions of add up

1phraseadd upTo make sense as a whole, or to total numbers.B2
“His story doesn't add up; he says he was at home, but his car was seen in town.”

add up is a totalling, or a making sense.

← Vocabulary

add up

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To add up is to make sense as a whole, or to total numbers. It doesn't add up, add up the column, the story adds up.

Definitions of add up

1phraseadd upTo make sense as a whole, or to total numbers.B2
“His story doesn't add up; he says he was at home, but his car was seen in town.”

add up is a totalling, or a making sense.