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Count vs Amount - What's the difference?

count | amount |

As nouns the difference between amount and count

is that amount is the total, aggregate or sum of material not applicable to discrete numbers or units or items in standard English while count is the act of counting or tallying a quantity.

As verbs the difference between amount and count

is that amount is to total or evaluate while count is to recite numbers in sequence.

count

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) counten, from (etyl) conter, from (etyl) ).

Verb

(en verb)
  • To recite numbers in sequence.
  • To determine the number (of objects in a group).
  • To be of significance; to matter.
  • To be an example of something.
  • * J. A. Symonds
  • This excellent man counted among the best and wisest of English statesmen.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
  • To consider something an example of something.
  • (obsolete) To take account or note (of).
  • * Shakespeare
  • No man counts of her beauty.
  • (UK, legal) To plead orally; to argue a matter in court; to recite a count.
  • (Burrill)
    Derived terms
    * count one's blessings * count out

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of or tallying a quantity.
  • Give the chairs a quick count to check if we have enough.
  • The result of a tally that reveals the number of items in a set; a quantity counted.
  • A countdown.
  • (legal) A charge of misconduct brought in a legal proceeding.
  • (baseball) The number of balls and strikes, respectively, on a batter's in-progress plate appearance.
  • He has a 3-2 count with the bases loaded.
  • (obsolete) An object of interest or account; value; estimation.
  • * Spenser
  • all his care and count
    Derived terms
    * countless * down for the count * sperm count

    Etymology 2

    (wikipedia count) From (etyl) comte and in the sense of "noble fighting alongside the king".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The male ruler of a county.
  • A nobleman holding a rank intermediate between dukes and barons.
  • Synonyms
    * (English counts) earl * (French counts) comte * (Italian counts) conte * (German counts) graf
    Derived terms
    * viscount * count palatine, count palatinate

    amount

    English

    (Quantity)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The total, aggregate or sum of material (not applicable to discrete numbers or units or items in standard English).
  • A quantity or volume.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives.
  • The number (the sum) of elements in a set.
  • * 2001 , Gisella Gori, Towards an EU right to education , page 195:
  • The final amount of students who have participated to mobility for the period 1995-1999 is held to be around 460 000.

    Derived terms

    * principal amount * notional amount

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To total or evaluate.
  • It amounts to three dollars and change.
  • To be the same as or equivalent to.
  • He was a pretty good student, but never amounted to much professionally.
    His response amounted to gross insubordination
  • (obsolete) To go up; to ascend.
  • * Spenser
  • So up he rose, and thence amounted straight.

    Derived terms

    * amount to

    See also

    * extent * magnitude * measurement * number * quantity * size