Word of the Day: Count
To count is to arrive at a number for a group of things or people, but the word “count” is also used when describing something that is important or something that really matters.
- His opinion doesn’t count. (It’s not important in this situation. / It doesn’t matter.)
- The decisions she makes really count. Everyone in the company is affected by what she decides.
- Elections count. Go vote!
If you add the preposition “on” to “count,” you get “count on” which means depend on or rely on:
- You can’t count on him to come to class on time. He’s always late.
- Can I count on you to help me this weekend?
- I’m counting on you.
- He counts on his wife for her support.
The next set of examples shows how the word “count” might be used when determining a number.
- The little girl can count up to twenty.
- Did you count all of the students in the classroom?
- An odometer counts the number of miles that a car has traveled.
- She met so many interesting people at the event she can’t count them all.
The word can also be used as a noun when talking about an amount:
- What’s the count? (…during a baseball game when asking about balls and strikes.)
- We have to do another count. (When talking inventory at a store.)
- A recent count of city residents shows that the population has increased by ten percent.
- By my count, there are a few people missing from our group.
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with C page to see the list of all words starting with letter C. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
