Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use sum in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Sum means a quantity obtained by addition or aggregation. Example: “The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.”

Examples of sum by meaning

nounA quantity obtained by addition or aggregation.

  • The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.
  • "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.a. 2004, Jimmy Wales, quotee, “Wikipedia:Prime objective”, in Wikipedia

nounAn arithmetic computation, especially one posed to a student as an exercise (not necessarily limited to addition).

  • We're learning about division, and the sums are tricky.
  • ‘But enough of doing sums for to-day, and what about that procession?’ ‘I’m on,’ said Egbert.1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 11
  • "I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain that got his sums wrong today, and I think it should never be permitted to happen again."1981, Lisa Valentin, quoting Richie Benaud, “The day Richie Benaud stood up for principle over patriotism”, in Stuff, published 11 April...

nounA quantity of money.

  • a tidy sum
  • the sum of forty pounds

nounA summary; the principal points or thoughts when viewed together; the substance.

  • This is the sum of all the evidence in the case.
  • This is the sum and substance of his objections.

verbTo add together.

  • when you say that stability and change are, it's because you're summing them up together as embraced by it, and taking note of the communion each of them has with being.2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 250b

More sentences with sum

  • The sum of expenditures and taxes minus total income is a loss, when this difference is positive.From the entry loss
  • He summed the whole thing up in a way that I couldn't possibly better.From the entry better
  • The sum for each contra account is shown in the last column.From the entry contra
  • The money arrived all at once as one big lump sum payment.From the entry lump
  • We summed up the donations and found that we had just enough to pay the bills.From the entry sum up
  • So, to sum up your argument, what you are saying is that it is impossible.From the entry sum up
  • When he retired, he received a lump sum plus a pension.From the entry lump sum
  • Together, the ant colony was greater than the sum of its parts.From the entry sum of its parts
  • (non-final) ancien régime, coup d'état, décor, déjà vu, détente, élite, résumé, séance.From the entry ◌́
  • Ten is a triangular number being the sum of 1, 2, 3, and 4.From the entry triangular number
  • The total resistance of two resistors connected in series is easily calculated as the simple sum.From the entry in series
  • The sum total of my belongings is the clothes in my knapsack.From the entry sum total
  • Emily got three of the sums wrong in her maths test.From the entry get wrong
  • After all that work, I've earned the princely sum of two pounds.From the entry princely sum
  • The runner's final time in the record-breaking speedrun was even faster than her previous sum of best.From the entry sum of best
  • He wishes to accumulate a sum of money.From the entry accumulate
  • All the terms of this sum cancel out.From the entry term
  • He gave me only a nominal sum for my services.From the entry nominal
  • His answer to the sum was erroneous.From the entry erroneous
  • That's going to cost you a hefty sum.From the entry hefty
  • The phrase "sum of its parts" is entirely compositional.From the entry compositional
  • The whole is greater than the sum of parts.From the entry sum of parts
  • After winning a modest sum on the lottery, he took it into his head to buy a boat.From the entry take it into one's head
  • Frank had created a demo reel on DVD that he could send along with his résumé for job interviews.From the entry demo reel
  • Can you sum up your research?From the entry up
  • (final) attaché, blasé, canapé, cliché, communiqué, entrée, mêlée, fiancé, fiancée, papier-mâché, passé, pâté, plié, résumé, risqué, naïveté, toupée, touché, as well as café, exposé above.From the entry ◌́
  • The painting fetched a princely sum.From the entry princely sum
  • Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum.From the entry dun
  • Most people got away with Napster piracy, but a few people were sued for gigantic sums because copyright holders intended to make an example of them.From the entry make an example of
  • The Frobenius number of 2 and 5 is 3, since 3 cannot be formed as a sum of twos and fives while every larger integer can.From the entry Frobenius number

Meaning of sum

  1. noun A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation.
  2. noun An arithmetic computation, especially one posed to a student as an exercise (not necessarily limited to addition).
  3. noun A quantity of money.

Full definition of sum

Questions about sum in a sentence

How do you use sum in a sentence?
Sum is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.”
What is a short sentence with sum?
“a tidy sum”
What does sum mean?
Sum means a quantity obtained by addition or aggregation.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sum (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use sum in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.