AMOUNT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does amount mean? 

• AMOUNT (noun)
  The noun AMOUNT has 4 senses:

1. a quantity of money

2. the relative magnitude of something with reference to a criterion

3. how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify

4. a quantity obtained by the addition of a group of numbers

  Familiarity information: AMOUNT used as a noun is uncommon.

• AMOUNT (verb)
  The verb AMOUNT has 3 senses:

1. be tantamount or equivalent to

2. add up in number or quantity

3. develop into

  Familiarity information: AMOUNT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AMOUNT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quantity of money

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

amount; amount of money; sum; sum of money

Context example:

the amount he had in cash was insufficient

Hypernyms ("amount" is a kind of...):

assets (anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amount"):

loss; red; red ink (the amount by which the cost of a business exceeds its revenue)

purse (a sum of money spoken of as the contents of a money purse)

purse (a sum of money offered as a prize)

peanuts (an insignificant sum of money; a trifling amount)

payroll; paysheet (the total amount of money paid in wages)

advance; cash advance (an amount paid before it is earned)

coverage; insurance coverage (the total amount and type of insurance carried)

figure (an amount of money expressed numerically)

defalcation (the sum of money that is misappropriated)

deductible ((taxes) an amount that can be deducted (especially for the purposes of calculating income tax))

contribution (an amount of money contributed)

cash surrender value (the amount that the insurance company will pay on a given life insurance policy if the policy is cancelled prior to the death of the insured)

gross; receipts; revenue (the entire amount of income before any deductions are made)

gain (the amount by which the revenue of a business exceeds its cost of operating)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The relative magnitude of something with reference to a criterion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

an adequate amount of food for four people

Hypernyms ("amount" is a kind of...):

magnitude (the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amount"):

figure; number (the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals)

margin (an amount beyond the minimum necessary)

deficiency; inadequacy; insufficiency (lack of an adequate quantity or number)

smallness (the property of being a relatively small amount)

decrease; decrement (the amount by which something decreases)

quantity (an adequate or large amount)

critical mass (the minimum amount (of something) required to start or maintain a venture)

negativeness; negativity (an amount less than zero)

positiveness; positivity (an amount greater than zero)

increase; increment (the amount by which something increases)

Sense 3

Meaning:

How much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

amount; measure; quantity

Hypernyms ("amount" is a kind of...):

abstract entity; abstraction (a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples)

Attribute:

standard (conforming to or constituting a standard of measurement or value; or of the usual or regularized or accepted kind)

nonstandard (varying from or not adhering to a standard)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amount"):

quantum ((physics) the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property that a system can possess (according to quantum theory))

chance; probability (a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible)

interval; time interval (a definite length of time marked off by two instants)

period of play; play; playing period ((in games or plays or other performances) the time during which play proceeds)

point; point in time (an instant of time)

time unit; unit of time (a unit for measuring time periods)

proof (a measure of alcoholic strength expressed as an integer twice the percentage of alcohol present (by volume))

volume (a relative amount)

volume (the amount of 3-dimensional space occupied by an object)

radical ((mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity)

magnetisation; magnetization (the extent or degree to which something is magnetized)

octane number; octane rating (a measure of the antiknock properties of gasoline)

cordage (the amount of wood in an area as measured in cords)

metric; system of measurement (a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic)

relative quantity (a quantity relative to some purpose)

indefinite quantity (an estimated quantity)

definite quantity (a specific measure of amount)

fundamental measure; fundamental quantity (one of the four quantities that are the basis of systems of measurement)

economic value; value (the amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else)

Derivation:

amount (add up in number or quantity)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A quantity obtained by the addition of a group of numbers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

amount; sum; total

Hypernyms ("amount" is a kind of...):

quantity (the concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amount"):

grand total (the sum of the sums of several groups of numbers)

subtotal (the sum of part of a group of numbers)

Derivation:

amount (add up in number or quantity)

• AMOUNT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they amount    ... he / she / it amounts   
Past simple: amounted   
Past participle: amounted   
-ing form: amounting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be tantamount or equivalent to

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Her action amounted to a rebellion

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "amount"):

make (amount to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Add up in number or quantity

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

add up; amount; come; number; total

Context example:

The bill came to $2,000

Hypernyms (to "amount" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "amount"):

work out (be calculated)

outnumber (be larger in number)

average; average out (amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain)

make (add up to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

amount (how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify)

amount (a quantity obtained by the addition of a group of numbers)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Develop into

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

add up; amount; come

Context example:

nothing came of his grandiose plans

Hypernyms (to "amount" is one way to...):

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "amount"):

aggregate (amount in the aggregate to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Ten days is a really short amount of time for such a bright object to appear.

(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

To discover how plants control the amount of fungal colonization, Harrison and colleagues looked at genes that encode short proteins called CLE peptides in the species Medicago truncatula and Brachypodium distachyon.

(Plant gene discovery could help reduce fertilizer pollution in waterways, National Science Foundation)

In an experiment, allergy sufferers were given increasing amounts of peanut flour to eat until they had an allergic reaction, which was treated quickly.

(Poor Sleep, Lack of Exercise Increase Risk of Nut Allergy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This water is too inaccessible to be used for human purposes, but for comparison, the amount is 45 times as much water as Los Angeles currently uses in a year.

(Sierras Lost Water Weight, Grew Taller During Drought, NASA)

The cells also started to release significance amounts of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), a type of substance that damages cellular structures when produced in high quantities.

(Lung damage from agricultural fires probed, SciDev.Net)

Reducing the amount of space junk in orbit has been the focus of a meeting of scientists this week in Canberra organized by Australia’s Space Environment Research Center.

(Australia Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Junk, VOA)

She says that the standard treatment given to malnourished children in different countries is a high-energy food paste which has only modest amounts of vital micronutrients such as vitamin D3.

(Vitamin D3 boost helps treat child malnutrition, SciDev.Net)

Now, the Safe Passage Study provides a look at how SIDS risk is influenced by the timing and amount of prenatal exposure to tobacco and alcohol.

(Combined prenatal smoking and drinking greatly increases SIDS risk, National Institutes of Health)

The determination of the amount of a proliferation-inducing ligand present in a sample.

(A Proliferation-Inducing Ligand Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

Become less in amount or intensity.

(Abate, NCI Thesaurus)