An amount of something is how much of it you have, need, or get.
You can talk about a large amount or a small amount. Don't talk about a 'big amount' or a 'little amount'.
When you use amount in the plural, you use a plural verb with it. For example, you say 'Large amounts of money were wasted'. Don't say 'Large amounts of money was wasted'.
Be Careful!
Don't talk about an 'amount' of things or people. For example, don't say 'There was an amount of chairs in the room'. You say 'There were a number of chairs in the room'. When you use number like this, you use a plural verb with it.
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Noun | 1. | ![]() gain - the amount by which the revenue of a business exceeds its cost of operating cash surrender value - the amount that the insurance company will pay on a given life insurance policy if the policy is cancelled prior to the death of the insured contribution - an amount of money contributed; "he expected his contribution to be repaid with interest" deductible - (taxes) an amount that can be deducted (especially for the purposes of calculating income tax) defalcation - the sum of money that is misappropriated red ink, red, loss - the amount by which the cost of a business exceeds its revenue; "the company operated at a loss last year"; "the company operated in the red last year" assets - anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company figure - an amount of money expressed numerically; "a figure of $17 was suggested" coverage, insurance coverage - the total amount and type of insurance carried cash advance, advance - an amount paid before it is earned peanuts - an insignificant sum of money; a trifling amount; "her salary is peanuts compared to his" purse - a sum of money offered as a prize; "the purse barely covered the winner's expenses" purse - a sum of money spoken of as the contents of a money purse; "he made the contribution out of his own purse"; "he and his wife shared a common purse" |
2. | ![]() magnitude - the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small); "they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion"; "about the magnitude of a small pea" positiveness, positivity - an amount greater than zero negativeness, negativity - an amount less than zero critical mass - the minimum amount (of something) required to start or maintain a venture; "the battle for the computer market has now reached critical mass"; "there is now a critical mass of successful women to take the lead"; "they sold the business because it lacked critical mass" quantity - an adequate or large amount; "he had a quantity of ammunition" increment, increase - the amount by which something increases; "they proposed an increase of 15 percent in the fare" smallness - the property of being a relatively small amount; "he was attracted by the smallness of the taxes" inadequacy, deficiency, insufficiency - lack of an adequate quantity or number; "the inadequacy of unemployment benefits" margin - an amount beyond the minimum necessary; "the margin of victory" | |
3. | ![]() abstract entity, abstraction - a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples probability, chance - a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an unbiased coin will fall with the head up is 0.5" quantum - (physics) the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property that a system can possess (according to quantum theory) economic value, value - the amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else; "he tried to estimate the value of the produce at normal prices" fundamental measure, fundamental quantity - one of the four quantities that are the basis of systems of measurement definite quantity - a specific measure of amount indefinite quantity - an estimated quantity relative quantity - a quantity relative to some purpose system of measurement, metric - a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic cordage - the amount of wood in an area as measured in cords octane number, octane rating - a measure of the antiknock properties of gasoline magnetisation, magnetization - the extent or degree to which something is magnetized radical - (mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity volume - the amount of 3-dimensional space occupied by an object; "the gas expanded to twice its original volume" volume - a relative amount; "mix one volume of the solution with ten volumes of water" proof - a measure of alcoholic strength expressed as an integer twice the percentage of alcohol present (by volume) time unit, unit of time - a unit for measuring time periods point in time, point - an instant of time; "at that point I had to leave" period of play, playing period, play - (in games or plays or other performances) the time during which play proceeds; "rain stopped play in the 4th inning" interval, time interval - a definite length of time marked off by two instants | |
4. | ![]() quantity - the concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable grand total - the sum of the sums of several groups of numbers subtotal - the sum of part of a group of numbers | |
Verb | 1. | amount - be tantamount or equivalent to; "Her action amounted to a rebellion" make - amount to; "This salary increase makes no difference to my standard of living" |
2. | ![]() work out - be calculated; "The fees work out to less than $1,000" be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer" outnumber - be larger in number average, average out - amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain; "The number of hours I work per work averages out to 40" make - add up to; "four and four make eight" | |
3. | amount - develop into; "This idea will never amount to anything"; "nothing came of his grandiose plans" become, turn - undergo a change or development; "The water turned into ice"; "Her former friend became her worst enemy"; "He turned traitor" aggregate - amount in the aggregate to |