- present tense form of summon (3rd person singular).
summons
Americannoun
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summonses
plural
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an authoritative command, message, or signal by which one is summoned.
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a request, demand, or call to do something.
a summons to surrender.
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Law.
-
a call or citation by authority to appear before a court or a judicial officer.
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the writ by which the call is made.
-
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an authoritative call or notice to appear at a specified place, as for a particular purpose or duty.
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a call issued for the meeting of an assembly or parliament.
verb (used with object)
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summonses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
summonsed,
past participle, past
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summonsing
present participle
noun
-
a call, signal, or order to do something, esp to appear in person or attend at a specified place or time
-
-
an official order requiring a person to attend court, either to answer a charge or to give evidence
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the writ making such an order Compare warrant
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a call or command given to the members of an assembly to convene a meeting
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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summonssimple
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summonsessimple
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have summonsedperfect
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has summonsedperfect
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am summonsingprogressive
-
are summonsingprogressive
-
is summonsingprogressive
-
have been summonsingperfect progressive
-
has been summonsingperfect progressive
Past
-
summonsedsimple
-
had summonsedperfect
-
was summonsingprogressive
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were summonsingprogressive
-
had been summonsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of summons
1250–1300; Middle English somons < Anglo-French; Old French somonse < Vulgar Latin *summonsa, for Latin summonita, feminine past participle of summonēre; see summon
Explanation
A summons is a request or order for someone to show up, especially for legal matters. You could get a summons to testify at a trial, for example. When you summon someone, you're requesting the person to join you, essentially saying, "Come here!" Similarly, a summons asks for someone to appear. This could be a friendly request or invitation, like a summons to join some friends for a road trip, but the most common type of summons is official and legally binding. If you receive a summons to appear in court, you have to show up. Ignoring that kind of summons is a crime.
Vocabulary lists containing summons
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act II
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Red Queen
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Google privately pushed back, court records show, arguing in an April email that the summons DHS used was designed for investigating imports of prohibited items.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Vehicle thefts have risen by almost 50% in a decade, yet just 3% of offences resulted in a charge or summons last year, BBC analysis has found.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Father Louis Cameli, a priest at Holy Name Cathedral, said the news was "not just a medical event" but a "spiritual summons" to trust God.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
According to the filing, attempts were made to serve Seaver with a summons on three separate occasions.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
It is a summons to the dining hall, where the Amity gather for less formal occasions than the meeting we attended.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
But Mr. Mamdani, who took office in January, issued an executive order in March to the NYPD, putting an end to criminal summonses for e-bikers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The summonses were issued "as part of the application of administrative sanctions in accordance with the applicable provisions", the minister added.
From Barron's ● Mar. 31, 2026
Over the past two weeks the disgraced leader had already ignored three summonses issued for him to appear for questioning, leading a Seoul court to issue a warrant for his arrest early this week.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2025
By late Monday at New York University, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
These were the summonses that you answered with your left foot forward, your right foot back, your hands guarding your face, one slightly lower than the other, cocked like a hammer.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Of those, just 9% resulted in someone being charged or summonsed.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
“There should never have been an arrest warrant, because normally she would receive a summons in the mail. In many cases, people who are charged with nonviolent offenses like this are summonsed into court.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
Many of those arrested earlier in the week had been summonsed for Russian military service, state media reported.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2022
Then, a few weeks before the alleged incident at the InternContinental, he summonsed her to a boutique hotel in SoHo where Miramax was staging a movie in one of the rooms.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 29, 2020
If I could be punished for stealin' his goose I might be summonsed all on account of you.
From The Broom-Squire by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
Old-fashioned landladies might refuse her lunch, it is true; and a narrowminded police force might desire to secure her, and wrap her in a rug preliminary to summonsing her.
From Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
With a terrible love of summonsing, and a thorough enjoyment of a law-court, he enters into the spirit of the thing like an attorney's clerk.
From To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
