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Definition of "sum" []

  • Mathematics An amount obtained as a result of adding numbers. (noun)
  • Mathematics An arithmetic problem: a child good at sums. (noun)
  • The whole amount, quantity, or number; an aggregate: the sum of the team's combined experience. (noun)
  • An amount of money: paid an enormous sum. (noun)
  • A summary: my view of the world, in sum. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "sum" in a sentence
  • "Totos ego tredecim annos, quibus functus sum ministerio, sive in sacramentis, sive in aliis sacris celebrandis, exhortationibus aut precibus quae extant in Agendâ nostrâ, _nunquam usus sum_."
  • "The proportionate postage from this commerce, even at the ratio of the present West Indian postage, to and from Great Britain and her West Indian colonies, would be 110,000_l. _ yearly; but admitting that a sum equal to _one-half_ only of _this sum_ came from the letters sent through the British Post Office, the sum gained on this station yearly would be 55,000_l."
  • "Draining me of the last cent of my hard earnings, he would, however, occasionally -- when I brought {252} home an extra large sum -- dole out to me a sixpence or a shilling, with a view, perhaps, of kindling up my gratitude; but this practice had the opposite effect -- it was an admission of _my right to the whole sum_."