put two and two together
Speech parts
1. put two and two together - Verb
2. put two and two together - Phrase
Meaning
put two and two together (third-person singular simple present puts two and two together, present participle putting two and two together, simple past and past participle put two and two together)
(idiomatic) To figure something out; to deduce or discern something.
We didn't tell our friends that we were dating, but I think they put two and two together.
Examples
You want the truth, of course. You want me to put two and two together. But two and two doesn't necessarily get you the truth. Two and two equals a voice outside the window. Two and two equals the wind. The living bird is not its labeled bones.
His head was always most valuable when he had lost it. In such moments he put two and two together and made four million.
They see things; they overhear things; they tell us. We put two and two together to make forty-four, when we must.
I have great faith in the intelligence of the American viewer and reader to put two and two together and come up with four.
And he pointed up to the helicopter and that’s when I put two and two together.”
Mr Goldberg said: “It was the father who put two and two together and made five.