count

present singular third person counts · participle present counting · participle past counted · past counted · first person past singular counted · archaic present second person singular countest · past second person singular counted · archaic past second person singular countedst · present singular third person counts · archaic present singular third person counteth · past singular third person counted · past plural counted · past subjunctive counted · participle present counting · participle past counted

1. intransitiveTo recite numbers in sequence.

   Can you count to a hundred?

   1 more example

   The psychiatrist asked her to count down from a hundred by sevens.

2. transitiveTo determine the number of (objects in a group).

   Count the number of apples in the bag and write down the number on the spreadsheet.

   2 more examples

   The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President,[…]

   1803, Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution

   How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

   c. 1845–1846, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Sonnets from the Portuguese”, in Poems. […], new edition, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], published 1850, →OCLC, sonnet XLII, page 479

   Synonyms: tell, enumerate

3. intransitiveTo amount to, to number in total.

   They counted thirty, crowded in a space Which left scarce room for motion or exertion; […]

   1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza LXIII, page 150

4. figurativelyintransitivepassive-likeTo be of significance; to matter; to be considered (as something); to be included (of something).

   Your views don’t count here.

   1 more example

   It does count if you cheat with someone when you’re drunk.

5. figurativelyintransitivepassive-likeTo be an example of something: often followed by as and an indefinite noun.

   Apples count as a type of fruit.

   3 more examples

   This excellent man […] counted among the best and wisest of English statesmen.

   1886, John Addington Symonds, Sir Philip Sidney

   Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.[…]But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.

   2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

   “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” he asked.¶“Too many,” Kirk quipped. The crowd clapped and cheered.¶Five, the audience member claimed. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” the man continued. Kirk leaned forward and picked up his mic before setting back into an upright position. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” he said.¶A loud “pop” suddenly rang out.¶Kirk lurched back and to the left. Blood splashed from his neck onto his white shirt.

   2025 September 12, Eric Levenson, “Charlie Kirk’s final hours: How a stage for debate became a scene of tragedy”, in CNN, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2025

6. transitiveTo consider something as an example of something or as having some quality; to account, to regard as.

   I count you as more than a friend.

   2 more examples

   He counts himself a hero after saving the cat from the river.

   The entertainment we haue had of him, Is far from villanie or ſeruitude, And might in noble mindes be counted princely.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii

7. transitiveTo reckon in, to include in consideration.

   They walked for three days, not counting the time spent resting.

8. intransitiveobsoleteTo take account or note (of), to care (for).

   […]to make her faire, that no man counts of her beauty.

   c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 23, column 2

9. obsoletetransitiveTo recount, to tell.
10. UKintransitiveobsoletelawTo plead orally; to argue a matter in court; to recite a count.

plural counts

1. The act of counting or tallying a quantity.

   Give the chairs a quick count to check if we have enough.

   1 more example

   Breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of five.

2. The result of a tally that reveals the number of items in a set; a quantity counted.

   By the official count, there are something like thirteen hundred species of birds in the Amazon, but Cohn-Haft thinks there are actually a good many more, because people have relied too much on features like size and plumage and not paid enough attention to sound.

   2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 177

3. A countdown.
4. lawA distinct and separate charge in an indictment or complaint.

   Anthony Williams (32), of Langford Road, Peterborough, was arrested and charged with ten counts of attempted murder, one count of ABH (Actual Bodily Harm), and one count of possession of a bladed article.

   2025 November 12, David Stubbings, “Knife attack: heroes hailed for saving lives”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 10

   1 more example

   Zou, who was living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim. He was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence.

   2025 June 19, “Student who raped 10 women jailed for 24 years”, in bbc.com

5. ball gamesThe number of balls and strikes, respectively, on a batter's in-progress plate appearance.

   He has a 3–2 count with the bases loaded.

6. obsoleteAn object of interest or account; value; estimation.

   When he was readie to his steede to mount / Vnto his way, which now was all his care and count.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16

7. slangminced oathCunt (the taboo swear word)

   That count deserves a punishment.

1. not comparablegrammarCountable.

   For example, the term abuse would require at least one definition for the uncount usage ‘invective, insulting language’, and another for the count usage ‘an item of invective, an insult’.

   2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 118

2. not comparablebusinessUsed to show the amount of like items in a package.

plural counts

1. The male ruler of a county.

   1 more example

   After his marriage, John made a progress through the country with his beautiful Elizabeth, and they purchased towns and villages and lands until he became master of nearly half Rügen, and a very considerable count in the country. His father, old James Dietrich, was made a noble-man, and his brothers and sisters gentlemen and ladies - for what cannot money do?

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 313

2. A nobleman holding a rank intermediate between dukes and barons.
3. biologyAny of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Tanaecia. Other butterflies in this genus are called earls and viscounts.

plural Counts

1. A surname.