amount

verb \ ə-ˈmau̇nt \

Updated on: 10 Dec 2017

Definition of amount

intransitive verb

1 a : to be the same in meaning or effect as

acts that amount to treason

b : to reach in kind or quality : to turn out to be

wanted her son to amount to something [=to be successful]

The changes don't really amount to much. [=are not really substantial or significant]

2 : to reach a total : add up

The bill amounts to $10.

See amount defined for English-language learners

See amount defined for kids

Recent Examples of amount from the Web

As for the official lifting of the eight-year waiting period for those who left illegally, that hardly amounts to much in practical terms.

— fabiola santiago, miamiherald, "Curb your enthusiasm. Cuba isn’t truly ‘opening up’ to Cuban-American travel | Miami Herald," 1 Nov. 2017
The land purchase alone amounted to about $55 million.

— charles evans, Houston Chronicle, "'City of Tomorrow' planned here," 1 Nov. 2017
Question: Would several non-football players who were involved in a credit-card ring involving at least 15 victims from seven different states get off with a punishment that amounts to a judicial version of running stadium steps?

— mike bianchi, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Felonious Gators predictably getting off with legal slap on the wrist," 27 Oct. 2017
That amounts to a considerable proportion of cancers that don’t have adequate treatment options, the study said.

— bradley j. fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, "In early study, rare tumors respond to precision therapy," 16 Oct. 2017
The whole thing happened around Lauren’s McLarens, Ferraris, Porsches, and other vehicles that collectively amount to a not-so-small fortune.

— erika harwood, vanityfair.com, "Diane Keaton and Nina Dobrev Have a Fated Encounter at Ralph Lauren," 13 Sep. 2017
An employee in the Bureau of Land Management (a division of Interior) who works in minerals management and asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal said the current leasing and royalty valuation system amounts to a kind of giveaway.

— adam federman, Slate Magazine, "The War on Coal States," 15 June 2017
Fortune reports that marketing firm Distinctive Assets has been presenting Grammys swag for 17 years, and this year, that amounted to more than $22,0000 worth of goodies.

— megan friedman, Harper's BAZAAR, "Here's What Was Inside the $22,000 Gift Bag at the Grammys," 16 Feb. 2016
Additionally, residents will have to pay a monthly service fee that will amount to more than a thousand dollars.

— bridget mallon, ELLE Decor, "Retiring Is About To Get Much More Luxurious...At Least For Londoners," 22 July 2015

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'amount.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of amount

Middle English, from Anglo-French amounter, from amount upward, from a- (from Latin ad-) + mont mountain — more at mount

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

amount

noun

Definition of amount

1 a : the total number or quantity : aggregate

trying to figure the amount of time it will take

b : the quantity at hand or under consideration

has an enormous amount of energy

2 : the whole effect, significance, or import

3 accounting : a principal sum and the interest on it

See amount defined for English-language learners

amount vs. number

Number is regularly used with count nouns

- a large number of mistakes
- any number of times

while amount is mainly used with mass nouns.

- annual amount of rainfall
- a substantial amount of money

The use of amount with count nouns has been frequently criticized; it usually occurs when the number of things is thought of as a mass or collection

- glad to furnish any amount of black pebbles
- —New Yorker
- a substantial amount of film offers
- —Lily Tomlin

or when money is involved.

- a substantial amount of loans
- —E. R. Black

Examples of amount in a Sentence

The drug is not being produced in adequate amounts.
What is the amount to be paid?
An amount was finally agreed upon.
The new law limits the amount a candidate can spend.
When he died we found he owed money to the amount of $250,000!

Recent Examples of amount from the Web

That's because the bill would reduce by an equivalent amount how much state government and other public employers pay into the health plans.

— tom loftus, The Courier-Journal, "Public employees would pay 3 percent more for retiree health care benefits under pension plan," 1 Nov. 2017
If the long-term yield on corporate bonds moves by the same amount, that could potentially bring the pension deficit down to about 12 billion pounds, according to Mercer estimates based on current conditions.

— lukanyo mnyanda, Bloomberg.com, "The U.K.'s $86 Billion Pension Problem Is About to Solve Itself," 20 Oct. 2017
Ursidae, excluding the giant panda, are also the only mammals with significant amounts of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder.

— gemma tarlach, Discover Magazine, "20 Things You Didn't Know About ... Bears," 10 Nov. 2017
People who stutter experience an excessive amount of disfluency, or involuntary speech disruptions, stumbling over at least 10 percent of their words.

— rachel hoge, Washington Post, "I stutter. As a result, I have been mocked, insulted, misjudged and refused service.," 5 Nov. 2017
And on third down, Lonnie Johnson Jr. ran stride for stride with Metcalf and the two each held and pushed each other an equal amount.

— fletcher page, The Courier-Journal, "When needed the most, Kentucky's defensive backs haven't made plays | Fletcher Page," 4 Nov. 2017
Because so many state chambers are currently GOP-controlled, there is an unprecedented amount of gerrymandering happening in favor of Republican candidates, where district lines are redrawn to give an advantage to one party over another.

— melissa walker, Teen Vogue, "What You Need to Know About Washington's Local Elections," 3 Nov. 2017
Based on the amount needed to treat SMA1 mice, the Nationwide team proposed a therapeutic dose of vector 100 times higher than had ever been injected into a patient’s blood in a gene therapy trial.

— jocelyn kaiser, Science | AAAS, "Gene therapy’s new hope: A neuron-targeting virus is saving infant lives," 1 Nov. 2017
Some of the dollar amounts were in the pennies, but there were many that were valued in the hundreds or thousands of dollars.

— jeff mcdonald, sandiegouniontribune.com, "County awards itself almost $600,000 in unclaimed cash," 24 Oct. 2017