add

add (something) to something

to increase the intensity or amount of something by giving more (of something) to it. You added too much sugar to my coffee.

add (something) to something

to increase the intensity or amount of something by giving more (of something) to it. You added too much sugar to my coffee.

add something into something and add

(something) in to introduce something into something else. Now, add the eggs into the mixture. Add in some more eggs.

add something together

to sum or total two or more things. Add these two together and tell me what you get.

See also: together

add something up

to sum or total a set of figures. (See also add up (to something).) Please add these figures up again. I didn't add up these figures!

See also: up

add fuel to the fire and add fuel to the flame

Fig. to make a problem worse; to say or do something that makes a bad situation worse; to make an angry person get even angrier. (Alludes to causing a flame to grow larger someone or something to move forward when fuel is added.) Shouting at a crying child just adds fuel to the fire.

See also: fire, fuel

add insult to injury

Fig. Cliché to make a bad situation worse; to hurt the feelings of a person who has already been hurt. First, the basement flooded, and then, to add insult to injury, a pipe burst in the kitchen. My car barely started this morning, and to add insult to injury, I got a flat tire in the driveway.

See also: insult

add up (to something)

1. Lit. [for a set of figures] to equal a total. These figures don't add up to the right total!

2. Fig. [for facts or explanations] to make sense. (Considering facts as if they were figures.) Your explanation just doesn't add up!

See also: up

amount to the same thing and come to the same thing; add up to the same thing

Fig. to be the same [as something]. Borrowing can be the same as stealing. If the owner does not know what you have borrowed, it amounts to the same thing. With cars—whether they're red or blue—it comes to the same thing.

See also: amount, same, thing

tack something onto something and tack something on

to add something onto something. The waiter kept tacking charges onto my bill. He tacked on charge after charge.

See also: tack

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add fuel to the fire/flames

to make an argument or a bad situation worse His mild words only added fuel to the fire. Isabelle was furious.

See also: fire, fuel

add insult to injury

to make a bad situation even worse for someone by doing something else to upset them First of all he arrived an hour late and then, to add insult to injury, he proceeded to complain about my choice of restaurant.

See also: insult

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add fuel to the fire

to make a situation worse than it already is Should the government warn the public of terrorist threats, or is this merely adding fuel to the fire?

See also: fire, fuel

add insult to injury

to make a bad situation worse The airline charged me extra for checking in a bike and then added insult to injury by charging me for a box to pack it in.

See also: insult

add up (spoken)

1. to be reasonable His story of what happened to him just doesn't add up.

Usage notes: usually used with not, as in the example

2. to increase in expense With five kids in the family, our medical bills really add up.

See also: up

add up to something

to result in something The details don't add up to a complete picture of what caused the explosion. Related vocabulary: amount to something

See also: up

amount to the same thing also come to the same thing

to be nearly the same thing, after you consider it She wanted him to suffer and she wanted to punish him, which amounts to the same thing.

See also: amount, same, thing