English Reference

Word

count

Phoneticscount

US/ˈkaʊnt/

UK/kˈaʊnt/

Definitions

01to say numbers in order

A1 · Beginner

v. to say numbers one after another in the correct order.

v. to recite numbers in a sequential progression.

“The child can already count from one to ten without any help.”

“Before the game of hide-and-seek began, the seeker had to count to fifty while the other children found places to hide.”

Synonyms

02to find the total

A1 · Beginner

v. to see how many things there are in a group.

v. to determine the total number of items in a specific set or group.

“I need to count the remaining chairs to see if we have enough for everyone.”

“The cashier had to count the contents of the till twice because the final sum did not match the daily sales report.”

03to be important

B1 · Intermediate

v. to be significant or to matter in a situation.

v. to be of value, significance, or importance within a specific context.

“In this competition, every single point will count toward the final score.”

“Although he was not the lead researcher, his contributions to the data analysis really count when evaluating the project's success.”

Synonyms

04to consider as

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to think of someone or something as having a certain quality.

v. to regard or account someone or something as being a particular thing.

“I count myself lucky to have such supportive friends and family.”

“The historian counts the discovery of the manuscript as one of the most significant events of the decade.”

05the total number

A2 · Elementary Countable noun

n. the final number you get after checking how many things there are.

n. the result of a tally or the total number of items identified in a set.

“At the last count, there were twenty people waiting outside the shop.”

“The official body count after the earthquake remained uncertain as rescue teams continued to search the rubble.”

Synonyms

06a nobleman

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. a man of high social rank in some European countries.

n. a title of nobility in various European countries, equivalent in rank to a British earl.

“The Count lived in a large castle in the mountains of Italy.”

“The novel follows the adventures of a young man who inherits a vast estate and the title of Count from his uncle.”

Synonyms

07legal charge

C1 · Advanced Countable noun Law Formal · Technical

n. one of several specific crimes that a person is accused of in court.

n. a distinct and separate charge in a legal indictment or criminal complaint.

“The jury found the defendant guilty on all three counts of fraud.”

“The prosecutor decided to drop the lesser counts in exchange for a guilty plea on the primary felony charge.”

Synonyms

08grammar type

B2 · Upper Intermediate Linguistics Technical

adj. a type of noun that you can use with numbers and make plural.

adj. referring to a noun that can be preceded by a number and has a plural form.

“Words like 'apple' and 'chair' are count nouns because you can have two of them.”

“Learners often struggle with the distinction between count and non-count nouns, particularly with words like 'information' or 'advice'.”

Synonyms

countable

Antonyms

non-countuncountable

Collocations

Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “count” in context.

Verb

01. count confirms

“The second count confirms that three items are missing from the box.”

noun + verb

02. count reveals

“A recent count reveals a significant drop in the local bird population.”

noun + verb

03. do count

“The teacher asked the students to do a quick count of the books.”

verb + noun

04. keep count

“The referee used a small clicker to keep count of the laps.”

verb + noun

05. lose count

“I've lost count of how many times I've seen that movie.”

verb + noun

Adjective

06. accurate count

“It is difficult to get an accurate count of how many people attended the rally.”

adj + noun

07. final count

“We are still waiting for the final count of the election ballots.”

adj + noun

Noun

08. body count

“The news report focused on the rising body count following the earthquake.”

noun + noun

09. head count

“Let's do a quick head count before the bus leaves.”

noun + noun

10. at the last count

“At the last count, there were twenty students waiting outside.”

11. by all counts

“By all counts, the charity event was a huge success.”

12. lose count of

“She has lost count of the number of jobs she has applied for.”

Usage

Commonly used in the phrase 'keep count' to describe tracking a changing total.

Real-World Examples

“No fish have been counted on a river for more than a year due to two faulty counters.”
BBC News 31 Jan 2026
“The Venus flytrap, a plant that eats insects, will clamp its leaves shut only after trigger hairs are tripped two times within about 20 seconds. Even without nerves, it counts electric impulses that go from cell to cell.”
The New York Times 2 Feb 2016
“UK, US and Australian scientists used satellite technology to trace and count the iconic birds, finding them to number almost 600,000.”
BBC News 13 Apr 2012

Etymology

From Middle English counten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conter, itself from Old French conter ("add up; tell a story"), from Latin computō ("I compute"). The word displaced native Old English tellan, the ancestor of Modern English tell; count and compute remain doublets, diverged from the same Latin root.

The semantic drift from calculation to narrative is not unique to English. Russian счита́ть (sčitátʹ, to count) and счита́ться (sčitátʹsja, to be reckoned or considered) show the same bridge between arithmetic and social accounting. Mongolian санах (sanax, to remember) has been proposed as a typological parallel, though the comparison is structural rather than genetic.

From Middle English counte, borrowed via Anglo-Norman conte and Old French comte from Latin comes in its accusative form comitem — a word for "companion" that shifted to mean a noble fighting alongside the king. The word survives as a doublet in English alongside comes, comte, and conte.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Word family

ADJECTIVE

Related words

Idioms

Domains

GrammarLawLinguistics

This entry

Exam level
CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B1 PreliminaryIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.4.0–5.0TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 3.0–3.544–71TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.550–784
Frequency
Very common
Level
B1 · IntermediateOxford
Updated

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