- present tense form of summon (3rd person singular).
summons
Americannoun
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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.
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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)
noun
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a call, signal, or order to do something, esp to appear in person or attend at a specified place or time
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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
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are summonsingprogressive
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is summonsingprogressive
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have been summonsingperfect progressive
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has been summonsingperfect progressive
Past
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summonsedsimple
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had summonsedperfect
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was summonsingprogressive
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were summonsingprogressive
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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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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 2
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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:
This includes a charge or summons, a caution, the offender dying, a penalty notice or cannabis warning being issued, a community resolution or where the offence is taken into account with other crimes.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
If “Masters of the Universe” tanks, here’s hoping Galitzine summons the strength to dig himself out of the rubble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
The new summons, just weeks after Musk didn’t show up for a voluntary interview with French prosecutors, escalates a trans-Atlantic feud over France’s handling of its long-running probe of X.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
There was a fake but convincing summons from the Sao Paolo police apparently charging one individual with money-laundering, typically used to scare victims into transferring funds or information about bank accounts.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026
He had rented them a shack, and had just left the hostel to live with them under the same roof, when the summons came.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
The summonses require the reporters to appear before a grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the Times said.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The Justice Department letter said the French had asked for U.S. assistance three times this year, including for serving summonses on X officials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 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
He had a backlog of jury summonses he hadn’t responded to, and it was time to make it right.
From New York Times ● May 10, 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
“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
He has been summonsed to appear before Brighton magistrates on 23 June, and has been suspended from duty.
From BBC ● May 27, 2022
He posted the following on Twitter after being summonsed:
From Time ● Oct. 14, 2016
"Do you know I have summonsed Morris Kerlinski?"
From Children of the Ghetto A Study of a Peculiar People by Zangwill, Israel
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, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
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 Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
