add up : Popular Idioms in English

add up

when something makes sense. The idiom can also be used in a negative fashion to express something which does not make sense.

What Matthew said to me doesnÕt add up. He should have been home already since his school is only 20 miles away.

Definitions

  • v  develop into
  • v  determine the sum of
  • v  add up in number or quantity
  • v  be reasonable or logical or comprehensible
News & Articles

  • Poor Math Skills Make a Mortgage Default More Likely
    Researchers investigating the trigger for the 2008 mortgage meltdown have found some borrowers’ math just doesn’t add up. Unprecedented numbers of American subprime mortgage holders began defaulting on their loans in 2006, precipitating two years later the most severe global recession since The Great Depression. Pundits have offered numerous theories about what started the mortgage mayhem, but ...
    June 24, 2013 - Discover
  • Cal financing plan downed by the count?
    Two plus two didn't always add up to four when Cal counted how many premium seats had been sold.
    June 24, 2013 - San Jose Mercury News
  • Best/worst degrees for paying off debt
    College costs can add up fast, especially for students taking out loans. So which degrees really pay off?
    June 18, 2013 - WGAL 8 Susquehanna Valley