count

KOWNT/kaʊnt/

Verbcounts, counting, counted

Noun pluralcounts

19 meanings of count

Practice

1
find how manyverbtransitive
To find out how many objects are in a group by adding them up one by one.
The teacher asked each child to count the desks in the room.
Officials counted every ballot twice to confirm the result.
Note
The object is whatever gets numbered, as in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's line 'Let me count the ways.'
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote 'Let me count the ways.' rpo.library.utoronto.ca
2
nouncountable
The act of counting a number of things, or the total reached by counting.
The official count came to three hundred votes.
After the recount, the final count still showed a tie.
UsageCommon phrases: keep count, lose count of something, the final count.
Similartally, total, sum, reckoning
3
say numbersverbintransitive
To say numbers aloud in their proper order.
Children learn to count before they start school.
He counted under his breath while he waited.
UsageCount to a number: count to ten. Also count backward from ten.
4
nouncountable
A European nobleman, originally one governing a county, ranking below a duke or marquis and above a viscount or baron.
The count owned vast estates across the region.
She married a wealthy Italian count last spring.
UsageA woman of this rank, or a count's wife, is a countess.
5
matterverbintransitive
To have importance or significance.
In a job interview, the things that count most are how well you listen and what you ask.
Her opinion counts more than anyone else's here.
UsageOften count for something: count for a lot, count for nothing.
Similarmatter, signify
6
verbtransitive
To include someone or something when reckoning a total or making a decision.
Remember to count the volunteers when you order lunch.
There will be eight of us at dinner, not counting the baby.
Similarinclude
Oppositeexclude
7
legal chargenouncountable
An individual accusation formally made against someone in an indictment or legal complaint.
The defendant faced three counts of fraud.
He pleaded guilty to one count but not the other.
UsagePattern: three counts of fraud; found guilty or cleared on a count.
Similarcharge
Note
Each count stands on its own, which is why reports list them by number and offense. A defendant can be convicted on one count and acquitted on another, because each is pleaded separately.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Each count is considered separately and receives its own verdict. judiciary.uk
Counts are numbered. legislation.gov.uk
Separate counts can produce convictions on some charges and acquittals on others. cps.gov.uk
8
verbtransitive
To regard someone or something as being of a particular kind, or to qualify as an example of it.
Many critics count the novel a masterpiece.
She counted the trip a success despite the rain.
UsageOften count yourself lucky; also count someone among your friends, or count something as a success.
Similarconsider, deem, judge
Note
The passive with a bare adjective is old. Zenocrate, in Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great, says hospitality 'might in noble mindes be counted princely.' Without as, the phrasing sounds more literary.
9
down to zeronouncountable
A counting down toward a starting point, marking the time left before an event begins.
Mission control began the count an hour before liftoff.
At the end of the count, the fireworks erupted over the harbor.
Similarcountdown

Less common meanings

10
amount toverbintransitive
To add up to a particular number in total.
The casualties counted in the hundreds after the battle.
Donations to the fund count in the millions each year.
Similarnumber, total
Note
When Byron writes 'They counted thirty' in Don Juan (1819), he means there were thirty of them. Nobody in the sentence is doing any counting.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Byron wrote the quoted words in Don Juan, Canto II, stanza LXIII. en.wikisource.org
The relevant first edition was published in 1819. nls.uk
The quotation describes a group numbering thirty, rather than people performing a tally. en.wiktionary.org
11
baseballnouncountable
In baseball, the current tally of balls and strikes against a batter during an at-bat.
The count stood at two balls and one strike.
He worked the count to his advantage before swinging.
UsageSaid balls first: a 3-2 count is three balls and two strikes. Also full count, work the count.
12
package sizeadjective
Used on packaging to state how many identical items a package contains.
She bought a 100-count box of trash bags.
The pharmacy stocks a 500-count bottle of vitamins.
UsageAfter a number, joined by a hyphen before a noun: a 100-count box.
13
grammaradjective
Of a noun, denoting something that can be counted and that takes both singular and plural forms.
'Chair' is a count noun, so you can say 'one chair' or 'three chairs.'
Grammar books distinguish count nouns from mass nouns like 'water.'
UsageMostly in count noun; the opposite is mass noun or uncount noun.
Similarcountable
Oppositemass, uncountable, noncount
Note
Grammarians pair it with uncount, and the label can apply to a single use of a word as well as to the whole noun. James Lambert, writing in World Englishes in 2014, notes that abuse needs an uncount definition, 'invective, insulting language', and a count one, 'an item of invective, an insult'. Many nouns have both uses.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
James Lambert wrote the cited discussion in World Englishes in 2014. en.wiktionary.org
Lambert gives these definitions for the uncount and count uses of abuse. researchgate.net
14
verbobsoleteintransitive
To take notice or account of something, or to hold it in regard.
Note
An old verb of paying heed, built with of. In Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 'no man counts of her beauty' means that no one takes any notice of it. Care for, or take account of, is the nearest modern equivalent.
15
nounobsolete
The value, worth, or estimation in which a person or thing is held.
When he was readie to his steede to mount / Vnto his way, which now was all his care and count.
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
An obsolete noun of regard. Spenser, in Book V of The Faerie Queene (1596), says the way ahead 'was all his care and count,' meaning everything he concerned himself with.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Count historically had the noun sense regard, value or estimation. en.wiktionary.org
The Faerie Queene began publication in 1590. This quotation belongs to Book V, first published in 1596; specify Book V to make the date accurate under the first-publication rule. en.wikisource.org
Book V, which contains the quotation, was first published in 1596. en.wikisource.org
16
verbobsoleteUKintransitive
In law, to plead a case orally before a court, or to recite a formal charge aloud.
Note
A verb from the old British courtroom, now obsolete. To count was to plead aloud, and what the pleader recited was itself called a count, the same word as the charge in an indictment. Verb and noun belong to one legal family.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Count was a British legal verb meaning to plead orally. en.wiktionary.org
The oral statement of the pleader's case was called a count. law.columbia.edu
The legal noun count also denotes a distinct charge in an indictment. en.wikisource.org
The legal verb and noun are related: to count included reciting a count. en.wikisource.org
17
verbobsoletetransitive
To recount or relate something; to tell a tale or report a series of events.
Similartell
Note
The storytelling half of French conter, which meant both 'add up' and 'tell a story'. That borrowing is the one described under the 'find the number' verb. English kept the arithmetic and let the narrative meaning lapse, so this use is now obsolete.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Old French conter had both arithmetic and narrative meanings. en.wiktionary.org
The narrative and arithmetic senses belong to the same borrowing. en.wiktionary.org
English count historically meant to recount or tell. en.wiktionary.org
18
nounslang
A disguised spelling of cunt, the taboo swear word, used mainly as an insult aimed at a person.
19
noun
Any of several nymphalid butterflies of the genus Tanaecia, related to those known as earls and viscounts.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of count apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5–17

Latin computō ("I compute") led to Old French and Anglo-Norman conter, which meant "add up" and also "tell a story." Middle English borrowed it as counten, the source of this sense. Compute is a doublet, and the word pushed out native Old English tellan, which survives as Modern English tell.

Meaning 4

Latin comes ("companion"), in particular its accusative comitem, was applied to a noble who fought beside the king. It became Old French comte ("count") and Anglo-Norman conte, and then Middle English counte. Comes, comte and conte are doublets.