Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An amount obtained by addition; a sum.
  • noun The whole amount of something; the entirety.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or constituting the whole amount; entire: synonym: whole.
  • adjective Complete; utter; absolute.
  • intransitive verb To determine the total of; add up.
  • intransitive verb To equal a total of; amount to.
  • intransitive verb To wreck completely; demolish.
  • intransitive verb To add up; amount.
  • idiom (in total) All together; entirely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bring to a total; accumulate; sum; add: sometimes with up.
  • To reach a total of; amount to.
  • Pertaining to or constituting a whole or the whole; being or taken together; undivided.
  • Comprising the whole; lacking no member or part; complete; entire.
  • Complete in degree; absolute; unqualified; utter: as, a total change; total darkness.
  • Summary; concise; curt.
  • Syn. 1–3. Whole, Entire, etc. See complete.
  • noun The whole; the whole sum or amount; an aggregate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb colloq. To bring to a total; also, to reach as a total; to amount to.
  • transitive verb to determine the total of (a set of numbers); to add; -- often used with up.
  • transitive verb colloq. To damage beyond repair; -- used especially of vehicles damaged in an accident. From total loss.
  • adjective Whole; not divided; entire; full; complete; absolute
  • adjective See Abstinence, n., 1.
  • adjective (Theol.) See Original sin, under Original.
  • noun The whole; the whole sum or amount.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.
  • noun informal, mathematics Sum.
  • adjective Entire; relating to the whole of something.
  • adjective used as an intensifier Complete; absolute.
  • verb transitive To add up; to calculate the sum of.
  • verb To equal a total of; to amount to.
  • verb transitive, US, slang to demolish; to wreck completely. (from total loss)
  • verb intransitive To amount to; to add up to.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective complete in extent or degree and in every particular
  • verb add up in number or quantity
  • verb determine the sum of
  • noun a quantity obtained by the addition of a group of numbers
  • noun the whole amount
  • adjective constituting the full quantity or extent; complete
  • verb damage beyond the point of repair

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, whole, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tōtālis, from Latin tōtus; see teutā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English total, from Medieval Latin tōtālis, from tōtus ("all, whole, entire"), of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Oscan 𐌕𐌏𐌖𐌕𐌏 (touto, "community, city-state"), Umbrian 𐌕𐌏𐌕𐌀𐌌 (totam, "tribe", acc.), Old English þēod ("a nation, people, tribe"), from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“people”). More at thede, Dutch.

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Examples

  • For the purpose of determining the total quantity of sulphur which the plants contain in their natural state, it is necessary to oxidise them by means of nitric acid; and from such experiments the following table, showing the _total_ amount of sulphur contained in 100 parts of different plants, dried at 212°, has been constructed: --

    Elements of Agricultural Chemistry Thomas Anderson

  • Here and there a brief remark was appended to a date, usually no more than a single word: “double” occurring perhaps six times in a total of several hundred entries; and once very early in the list and followed by several marks of exclamation, “total failure!!!

    Dr 1921

  • For example: volatile int total; mutex_lock (); total+ = 5; mutex_unlock ();

    Sun Bloggers 2009

  • What this means for the solar, fuel cell, and other alternative energy players is that in order for them to be economically viable, is not only do they have to be competitive on a total cost basis, alternative energy companies '* total* costs have to be competitive with fossil fuel companies'

    The Money Times - finance news, lifestyle, markets, investment, personal finance, banking, retirement planning 2008

  • i have a family member that is a Teamster…… his entire family received/receives total healthcare benefits…..total dental, medical, hospitalization .

    Obama’s Healthcare Deception — It’s Just a Giant Power Grab - Warner_Todd_Huston’s blog - RedState 2009

  • A protracted conflict, deserving in certain ways the label total war, it produced a global struggle between two powerful coalitions.

    Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011

  • A protracted conflict, deserving in certain ways the label total war, it produced a global struggle between two powerful coalitions.

    Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011

  • The Redskins reached the midway point of their first season under Mike Shanahan at 4-4 - matching their win total from a year ago but knowing they might have won each of the games they lost.

    Redskins at the bye week: the defense Jason Reid 2010

  • The Redskins reached the midway point of their first season under Mike Shanahan at 4-4 - matching their win total from a year ago but knowing they might have won each of the games they lost.

    Redskins at the bye week: the defense Jason Reid 2010

  • The funds considered in this category follow indexes that include developed market and emerging market securities, thus the term total international market.

    The First Annual Cheap Fund Awards 2010

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