Add

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /æd/

Definitions

1. To combine numbers or join things together to make a total or increase something
2. To sum numbers or merge items together for a larger quantity or to enhance an existing situation
3. To unite figures or elements in order to achieve a cumulative total or to amplify an experience

Etymology: The verb "add" is inherited from Latin "addere," meaning "to put to, place upon," built from "ad" ("to") and "dare" ("to give, put"). That literal sense of placing one thing beside another is still visible in the arithmetic sense: to add is to set one quantity next to another and combine them. The word reached English through Old French, where the Latin root had been reshaped into "ajouter," and it carried that sense of joining things together into English usage. The "combine to increase" meaning is the core of the word's modern sense, and it grew naturally from the literal idea of putting one thing onto another. A pile that gains a new stone is a pile that has been added to, and the same logic underlies counting and totalling. The short, one-syllable form that English speakers use today is a compact survivor of a longer Latin verb, with its prefix and root worn down over centuries of speech.

Synonyms: include, combine, join

Antonyms: subtract, remove, take away