What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Total vs Contact - What's the difference?

total | contact |

In transitive terms the difference between total and contact

is that total is to add up; to calculate the sum of while contact is to establish communication with something or someone.

As an adjective total

is entire; relating to the whole of something.

total

English

Alternative forms

* totall (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.
    • A total of £145 was raised by the bring-and-buy stall.
  • (informal, mathematics) Sum.
    • The total of 4, 5 and 6 is 15.

    See also

    * addition, summation: (augend) + (addend) = (summand) + (summand) = (sum, total) * subtraction: (minuend) ? (subtrahend) = (difference) * multiplication: (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (factor) × (factor) = (product) * division: (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient), remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

    Synonyms

    * (sum) sum

    Derived terms

    * subtotal

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Entire; relating to the whole of something.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  • *{{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. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • ((used as an intensifier)) Complete; absolute.
  • :

    • Synonyms

    * (entire) entire, full, whole * (complete) absolute, complete, utter; see also

    Derived terms

    * total war

    Verb

  • To add up; to calculate the sum of.
    • When we totalled the takings, we always got a different figure.
  • To equal a total of; to amount to.
    • That totals seven times so far.
  • (transitive, US, slang) to demolish; to wreck completely. (from total loss)
    • Honey, I’m OK, but I’ve totaled the car.
  • To amount to; to add up to.
    • It totals nearly a pound.

    Synonyms

    * (add up) add up, sum * (demolish) demolish, trash, wreck

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    contact

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of touching physically; being in close association.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
    • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • The establishment of communication (with).
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, […], he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.}}
  • A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.
  • Someone with whom one is in communication.
  • (label) A contact lens.
  • (label) A device designed for repetitive connections.
  • Contact juggling.
  • (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.
    • (Raymond)

    Derived terms

    * body contact * contact hitter * contactable * eye contact * first contact * golden contact * point of contact / POC

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To touch; to come into physical contact with.
    • The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.
  • To establish communication with something or someone
    • I am trying to contact my sister.