# counting

/ˈkaʊnɪŋ/ (US) · /kˈaʊntɪŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/counting
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. the act of finding a total

noun · CEFR A1

the act of finding out how many people or things there are.

For teachers: the process of determining the quantity of a group of items or people.

- The teacher finished the counting and realized two students were missing from the bus.
- After the polls closed, the official counting of the ballots continued late into the night under strict supervision.

### 3. including or relying on

verb · CEFR B1

including someone in a plan, or relying on them for help.

For teachers: the present participle of 'count', used in the sense of including a person in an activity or depending upon a specific outcome.

- I am counting on you to arrive at the meeting on time.
- The project manager is counting the freelance hours toward the total budget for the first quarter.

## Examples

- The teacher started the counting with the number one.
- After the final vote, the counting of the ballots took several hours to complete.
- Precise counting is essential in laboratory settings where even a minor discrepancy in the number of samples can invalidate the entire experimental result.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.