summa
Americannoun
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a comprehensive work or series of works covering, synthesizing, or summarizing a particular field or subject.
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a work or series of works that is a summary of all human knowledge.
noun
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medieval Christianity theol a compendium of theology, philosophy, or canon law, or sometimes of all three together. The Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas, written between 1265 and 1274, was the most famous of all such compendia
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rare a comprehensive work or survey
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of summa
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin; Latin: sum
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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.
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He graduated summa cum laude from New York University in 1948, and earned a master’s in economics two years later and a Ph.D in economics in 1977.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Macdonald was a straight-A student in high school and graduated summa cum laude with a finance degree from the University of Georgia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026
I spoke with Charlotte Woodward, who graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and now works as Education Program Associate for National Down Syndrome Society.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2025
Charlie pulls his grades up and graduates summa cum laude from Harvard.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
Like St. Thomas Aquinas, the scholastic known for working so long on his theological summae that he sometimes achieved spiritual visions, hackers reached transcendent internal states through sheer mental focus and physical exhaustion.
From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Williams, Sam
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.
