top definitions
related content
examples
idioms and phrases

sum total

SEE SYNONYMS FOR sum total ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

complete numerical total: the sum total of my savings.

essence; substance: The sum total of research in the field.

Origin of sum total

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Words nearby sum total

sulu archipelago, sulu sea, sulzberger, sum, sum and substance, sum total, sum up, sum-, sum-up, sumac, sumach

Example sentences from the Web for sum total

A cook, a butler, and a valet were the sum-total of his retinue.

The Lure of the Mask |Harold MacGrath
The advantages are sideways, so to say; a whole family can work at the same time, and the sum-total becomes considerable.

Field and Hedgerow |Richard Jefferies
For him business means the sum-total of varieties; as Cousin would say, the unity of specialties.

The Firm of Nucingen |Honore de Balzac
Twenty months passed in a school in Illinois constituted the sum-total of his schooling.

Indian Legends of Minnesota |Various

Now the sum-total of this, in regard to story-writing, is the fact that fully 80 per cent.

The Lure of the Pen |Flora Klickmann

Idioms and Phrases with sum total

sum total

The entirety, everything, as in I spent all day in the kitchen and the sum total of my efforts is this cake. [Mid-1600s]