Etimology
From Middle English amounten (“to mount up to, come up to, signify”), from Old French amonter (“to amount to”), from amont, amunt (“uphill, upward”), from the prepositional phrase a mont (“toward or to a mountain or heap”), from Latin ad montem, from ad (“to”) + montem, accusative of mons (“mountain”).
noun
amount (plural amounts)
The total, aggregate or sum of material (not applicable to discrete numbers or units or items in standard English).
A quantity or volume.
(nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) The number (the sum) of elements in a set.
Examples
The amount of atmospheric pollution threatens a health crisis.
Pour a small amount of water into the dish.
The dogs need different amounts of food.
The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. […] who, if anyone, is policing their use[?] Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.
The final amount of students who have participated to mobility for the period 1995-1999 is held to be around 460 000.
Related words
hyponyms
batch
bolus
notional amount
principal amount
serving (helping, portion)
verb
amount (third-person singular simple present amounts, present participle amounting, simple past and past participle amounted)
(intransitive, followed by to) To total or evaluate.
(intransitive, followed by to) To be the same as or equivalent to.
(obsolete, intransitive) To go up; to ascend.
Examples
The money in my pocket amounts to three dollars and change.
He was a pretty good student, but never amounted to much professionally.
His response amounted to gross insubordination
So up he rose, and thence amounted straight.