Meaning & use
total
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Including every part, with nothing left out; also complete in degree.
Grammar: Used before a noun: the total cost, total silence.
Patterns
- total cost
- a total failure
The total cost of the repairs was higher than expected.
There was total silence in the room.
The project was a total failure.
nouncountable
The amount reached when numbers or amounts are added together.
Grammar: Often follows in or of: in total, a total of fifty.
Patterns
- a total of something
- in total
The total came to eighty dollars.
A total of forty people attended the meeting.
She checked the total on the receipt.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To add up to a certain amount, or to find the sum of things.
Grammar: Can take an object when you add things, or mean to reach a sum: the bill totals $90.
Patterns
- total something
- total something up
Donations totaled more than two million dollars.
The clerk totaled the bill at the register.
Their combined debts total almost a million.
verbtransitiveinformalAmerican
To destroy a vehicle so badly that it cannot be repaired.
Grammar: Always has an object, usually a car: he totaled his car.
Patterns
- total a car
He totaled his truck on the icy road.
The storm totaled three of the parked cars.
Their insurer said the car was totaled.
Word forms
| plural | totals |
|---|---|
| third person singular | totals |
| past tense | totaled (US) or totalled (UK) |
| -ing form | totaling (US) or totalling (UK) |
Common combinations
- grand total
- The grand total for the trip was two thousand dollars.
- in total
- In total, six teams entered the contest.
- total amount
- Please check the total amount before you pay.
- total number
- The total number of students has risen.
- total disaster
- The party was a total disaster.
- a running total
- I kept a running total of the points scored.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sum
- Sum is the result of adding numbers, and sounds more mathematical than total.
- complete
- Complete stresses that nothing is missing, while total can also mean the sum of parts.
- entire
- Entire stresses the whole of one thing, while total often relates to counted amounts.
- utter
- Utter intensifies a negative noun, like utter nonsense, and is less neutral than total.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: total or sum?
total vs sum
Sum is the answer to an addition, while total can also be an adjective meaning complete.
Practice
The bill included drinks, food, and service, and the ____ came to ninety dollars.
Choose one answer.
Total as a noun is the final amount. Partial is an adjective, and sum of and whole of need extra words to follow and are not natural here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “total”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.