Etimology
From Middle English total, from Old French total, from Medieval Latin tōtālis, from tōtus (“all, whole, entire”) + -ālis, the former element 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 English Dutch, English thede.
noun
total (plural totals)
An amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.
(informal, mathematics) Sum.
Examples
A total of £145 was raised by the bring-and-buy stall.
The total of 4, 5 and 6 is 15.
Related words
synonyms
(sum): sum
adjective
total (comparative more total, superlative most total)
Entire; relating to the whole of something.
(used as an intensifier) Complete; absolute.
(mathematics, of a function) Defined on all possible inputs.
(mathematics, more generally, of a relation R on X × Y) Left total: Such that for every x in X there is a y in Y with x R y.
(mathematics, of a partial order ≤) Such that any two elements are comparable, i.e. for all a and b, either a ≤ b, or b ≤ a.
Examples
The total book is rubbish from start to finish. The total number of votes cast is 3,270.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
Each member brought a unique musical influence to the total sound.
Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product , is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
He is a total failure.
The Ackermann function is one of the simplest and earliest examples of a total computable function that is not primitive recursive.
Hyponyms: connected, complete, strongly connected
Related words
synonyms
(entire): entire, full, whole; see also Thesaurus:entire
(complete): absolute, complete, utter; see also Thesaurus:total
verb
total (third-person singular simple present totals, present participle (UK) totalling or (US) totaling, simple past and past participle (UK) totalled or (US) totaled)
(transitive) To add up; to calculate the sum of.
To equal a total of; to amount to.
(transitive, US, slang) To demolish; to wreck completely. (from total loss)
(intransitive) To amount to; to add up to.
Examples
Synonym: sum
When we totalled the takings, we always got a different figure.
That totals seven times so far.
Synonyms: demolish, trash, wreck
Honey, I’m OK, but I’ve totaled the car.
He acted real funny / He hocked up a rock and / It totaled my car!
It totals nearly a pound.