quadrare

to add up

verb kwah-DRAH-reh Rare

Origin: From Latin quadrare (to make square).

Also means

to square

Usage Note

Quadrare in accounting means 'to balance' (il bilancio non quadra = 'the balance sheet doesn't add up'). Figuratively it means 'to make sense' or 'to square with': la storia non mi quadra ('the story doesn't add up for me'). The impersonal construction non mi quadra is very common in colloquial Italian.

Examples

"I conti non quadrano ancora."

Natural Translation

The accounts still don't add up.

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