sum

1 /sVm/ noun

1 MONEY (C) an amount of money: a large/small sum (of): Sid was left a large sum of money by his aunt. | for the sum of: It was mine for the sum of -20.

—see also: lump sum, princely sum princely (1)

2 the sum of the total produced when you add two or more numbers together: The sum of 6 and 4 is 10.

3 greater/more than the sum of its parts a group of things or people that is greater than the sum of its parts has a quality or effectiveness as a group that you would not expect from looking at each member

4 CALCULATION (C) BrE a simple calculation by adding, multiplying, dividing etc, especially one done by children at school

5 do your sums informal BrE to calculate whether you have enough money to do something: Well I've done my sums, and I think I can afford a holiday.

6 in sum old-fashioned used before a statement that gives the main information about something in a few simple words: It was, in sum, a complete failure.

—see also: sum total 2 verb sum up summed, summing phrasal verb

1 (I, T) to give the main information about a report, speech, trial 1 (1) etc in a short statement at the end; summarize: to sum up: So, to sum up, we need to concentrate on staff training. | sum sth up: The last chapter sums up the arguments.

2 (transitive sum someone/something up) to form a judgment or opinion about someone or something: Pat summed up the situation at a glance.

3 that (about) sums it up spoken used to say that you have said everything that is important about a subject

—see also: summing­up