count as

count (someone or something) as (something)

To see or interpret someone or something in a particular way. I count my daughter as my greatest blessing in life. You should count this as a major accomplishment—freshmen hardly ever get published in the literary magazine.
See also: count
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

count someone or something as something

to consider someone to be a particular type of person. I count Todd as one of the possible candidates. I count this entry as a definite prizewinner.
See also: count

count something as something

to treat or think of something as being a certain thing. I count this as a win. Did you count that one as a fair ball?
See also: count
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • count (someone or something) as (something)
  • count up to
  • count up to (some number)
  • count with
  • count with (one)
  • count up
  • count among
  • count (someone or something) among (something)
  • count
  • count heads
References in periodicals archive
patients experienced prolonged life and delayed disease progression) and this increased comfort levels about using CD4 T cell count as a surrogate marker for approval of future anti-HIV drugs.
In short, SMART pits immediate and uninterrupted antiretroviral therapy with a reliance on viral load as the guiding surrogate against deferred and episodic therapy with a reliance on CD4 T cell count as the guide.