total
Noun pluraltotals
Verbtotals
Pluraltotals
Formstotals
- 1Describing an amount, number, or extent that includes every part, so that it covers the whole; entire.
The total population of the region exceeds two million.
Her total income for the year came from several jobs.
Similarentire, whole, overall, combined, aggregate
Oppositepartial
Note
It sits before nouns of measure and extent, such as total number, total value and total deck space, and gathers parts into one whole. The Economist (2013) says GDP measures the total value of output. Compare the intensifying use, where nothing is being counted.
- 2The whole amount or number reached by adding smaller amounts together; the sum.
The total for the project came in well under budget.
After tax, the final total surprised the customer.
UsageCommon patterns: a total of 50 people, 50 people in total, and the total comes to $40.
Similarsum
- 3Complete in degree; absolute.
The rescue plan ended in total failure.
She felt a sense of total freedom on the open road.
UsageOften used for emphasis: a total stranger, a total mess.
Similarcomplete, utter, absolute, sheer, outright
Note
Here the word stops measuring and starts emphasizing. A total failure is not a sum of failures but failure without qualification. As an intensifier it is at home in lively, emphatic speech, as in Tweety's "Total bwackout!" from A Tale of Two Kitties (1942). Complete or absolute will usually substitute, but the word's punch comes from its bluntness.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Tweety says 'Total bwackout!' in A Tale of Two Kitties. en.wiktionary.org
- A Tale of Two Kitties was released in 1942. en.wikipedia.org
- 4To come to a particular amount when added together; to amount to.
Donations to the fund total nearly a million dollars.
The team's wins totaled twelve by season's end.
UsageThe amount follows directly, with no preposition: the bills total $600.
Note
The figures themselves become the subject: that totals seven times so far. The adding-up verb needs someone to do the arithmetic, but this one simply reports the result, much as make does in two and two make four.
Less common meanings
- 5To add up a set of numbers and calculate their sum.
Clerks total each column before submitting the report.
He totaled the votes from all districts.
Note
Spelling splits by country across the verb's forms. American English writes totaled and totaling. British English doubles the l: totalled and totalling, as in "when we totalled the takings." The form totals is shared by both. The verb is transitive here: the person doing the arithmetic is the subject and the figures are the object. Sum is a close substitute.
- 6To damage something, especially a vehicle, so badly that it cannot be repaired or is not worth repairing.
One bad skid on the ice can total an expensive car in seconds.
She totaled her sedan against a guardrail last winter.
UsageMostly about vehicles: total a car. In formal writing, wreck is the safer word.
Note
American slang born from insurance. A car declared a total loss, damaged beyond the worth of repairing, has been totaled. The verb belongs with vehicles and casual speech, from an apologetic "I've totaled the car" to Frank Zappa's "Billy the Mountain" (1972).
- 7Of a function, defined for every possible input value.
- 8Of an ordering, such that any two elements can be compared.
- 9Of a relation, such that every element of the first set is related to at least one element of the second.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
This word came through Middle English and Old French from Medieval Latin tōtālis, built from tōtus ('all, whole, entire') plus -ālis. The root tōtus is of unknown origin, though it may be related to words for 'people' or 'tribe' in Oscan, Umbrian, and Old English, from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ ('people').
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- English total came through Middle English and Old French from Medieval Latin tōtālis. en.wiktionary.org
- Medieval Latin tōtālis was formed from tōtus plus -ālis. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin tōtus means all, whole or entire. en.wiktionary.org
- The origin of tōtus is unknown. en.wiktionary.org
- A possible relationship is proposed with Oscan, Umbrian and Old English words for communities or peoples, traced to Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ is reconstructed with the meaning people. en.wiktionary.org