sum 1 S2 W2 AC / sʌm / 名词 [可数名词]

1 money an amount of money :

He owes me a large sum of money .

sum of

the sum of £4,000

large/substantial/considerable etc sum

Bill wants to spend a large sum on modernizing the farm.

small/modest/trifling etc sum

We should be happy to buy it for a modest sum → lump sum , → princely sum at princely ( 1 )

2 the sum of something the total produced when you add two or more numbers or amounts together :

You will have to pay the sum of the two sets of costs.

3 greater/more/better etc than the sum of its parts having a quality or effectiveness as a group that you would not expect from the quality of each member :

The team is greater than the sum of its parts.

4 calculation a simple calculation by adding, multiplying, dividing etc, especially one done by children at school

5 do your sums informal British English to calculate whether you have enough money to do something :

Do your sums first before you decide how much to spend.

6 in sum formal used before a statement that gives the main information about something in a few simple words :

In sum, soul music is important to the record industry.

→ sum total

COLLOCATIONS

短语

a sum of money We urge people not to keep large sums of money in their houses.

形容词

a large/considerable/substantial sum He lost a substantial sum of money on the deal.

a huge/enormous/vast sum The company has invested huge sums in research.

a five-figure/six-figure/seven-figure etc sum (= an amount in the ten thousands, hundred thousands etc ) The newspaper paid a six-figure sum for the photograph of the princess.

a small sum Each year the inhabitants had to pay a small sum for the use of the pasture.

a modest sum (= not a very big amount of money ) She had paid a modest sum for the paintings.

an undisclosed sum (= an amount that is being kept secret ) He sold the company for an undisclosed sum.

a tidy sum informal (= a large amount of money ) I had managed to save a tidy sum.

the total sum The total sum lost is believed to be around £2 million.

the princely sum of … (= a large amount – often used humorously to mean a small amount ) They were surviving on the princely sum of £50 a week. | For the princely sum of $8 million you too could live in a mansion like this.