Word Confusion: Aggregate versus Total

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: aggregates
Past tense or past participle: aggregated
Gerund or present participle: aggregating

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: totals
Past tense or past participle: totaled, totalled [British] Gerund or present participle: totaling, totalling [British]

• Total
• [Botany; of a group of species] Comprising several very similar species formerly regarded as a single species
• [Economics] Denoting the total supply or demand for goods and services in an economy at a particular time

[Geology; of a rock] Consisting of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means

Noun:
A whole formed by combining several (typically disparate) elements

• A sum, mass, or assemblage of particulars
• A total or gross amount
• The total number of points scored by a player or team in a series of sporting contests

A material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles

• Pieces of broken or crushed stone, gravel, or sand used to make concrete, or more generally in building and construction work
• [Construction] Granular mineral material — such as sand, gravel, crushed stone — used with a bonding medium, such as cement or clay, to make concrete, plaster, or terrazzo mixture.
• A cluster of soil granules not larger than a small crumb

[Mathematics] Set, as in a collection of objects or elements

Verb, intransitive:
To combine and form or group into a collection, mass, cluster, or group

Verb, transitive:
To bring together

• Collect into one sum, mass, or body

To amount to (the number of)

[Computing] Collect related items of content so as to display or link to them

Complete

• Absolute
• Entire

Of or relating to the whole of something

Complete in extent or degree

• Unqualified
• Utter

Involving all aspects, elements, participants, resources, etc.

• Unqualified
• All-out

Noun:
The whole number or amount of something

• Sum
• Aggregate
• An entirety

Verb, intransitive:
[Often followed by to] To amount, add up

Verb, transitive:
Amount in number to ¹

• Add up the full number or amount of ²

[Informal; chiefly North American] Damage (something, typically a vehicle) beyond repair

• Wreck

Dandelions are so hard to identify that many botanists will record them as the aggregate.

For this reason, other economists, such as the authors of the UN Human Development Report, routinely exclude China from aggregate data covering developing nations.

The aggregate demand curve represents the total quantity of all goods (and services) demanded by the economy at different price levels.

Noun:
The council was an aggregate of three regional assemblies.

The result put the sides even on aggregate.

He set the pace with a one-over-par aggregate of 151.

In the aggregate, our losses have been relatively small.

“An empire is the aggregate of many states under one common head.” – Edmund Burke

The specimen is an aggregate of rock and mineral fragments.

Block, a.k.a., concrete brick, is manufactured using Portland cement, aggregate, sand, and water.

An aggregate function is a mathematical computation involving a set of values rather than a single value.

Verb, intransitive:
“Some [bacteria] aggregate so closely as to mimic a multicellular organism.” – Gina Kolata

“The first stars began to form when hydrogen and helium gas left over from the Big Bang aggregated into dense clouds.” – Paul Davies

Sensor nodes are aggregated to form clusters based on their power levels and proximity.

Markets have consistently beat the alternatives at aggregating information.

Verb, transitive:
The guns captured will aggregate five or six hundred.

Tools that aggregate data from all of the security devices are a good first step.

We aggregated the donations into one bank account.

Revenues will aggregate more than one million dollars.

Socio-occupational groups aggregate men sharing similar kinds of occupation.

I swear, he was a total stranger.

They drove home in total silence.

The total effect of the play was ruined by those loudmouths in the fourth row.

He felt as if he were a total failure.

There could be nothing but total war between the two.

Noun:
He scored a total of thirty-three points.

In total, 200 people were interviewed.

It comprised a total of $200.

It’s the impressive total of Mozart’s achievement that astounds one.

Verb, intransitive:
It totals to $25.

The grand total is $2,543.79.

It’s totaled.

Verb, transitive:
They were left with debts totaling $6,260.

We totaled up the scores at the end of the first half.

Nah, the insurance company totaled it.

1. Late Middle English is via the Old French from the medieval Latin totalis, which is from totum meaning the whole, a neuter of the Latin totus meaning whole, entire.
2. The verb, at first in the sense add up, dates from the late 16th century.