verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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summaristnoun
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summarizationnoun
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summarizernoun
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summarizableadjective
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unsummarizableadjective
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unsummarizedadjective
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well-summarizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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summarizesimple
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summarizessimple
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have summarizedperfect
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has summarizedperfect
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am summarizingprogressive
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are summarizingprogressive
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is summarizingprogressive
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have been summarizingperfect progressive
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has been summarizingperfect progressive
Past
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summarizedsimple
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had summarizedperfect
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was summarizingprogressive
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were summarizingprogressive
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had been summarizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of summarize
Explanation
To summarize something, only include the important stuff. If your teacher asks you to summarize several events from the Civil War, she wants the important facts, not every single detail you can find. When you summarize something, you write or tell the general idea and only the most important points. It's a skill we often use in school or at work, but even in our personal lives, we summarize: like when a friend asks what the book you're reading is about, or someone wants to know about your recent vacation. You don't tell them every single detail, talking yourself to exhaustion. Instead, you summarize — describing just the key events that "sum up" the experience.
Vocabulary lists containing summarize
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 1
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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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:
The company said the suite of tools can give any agent —an AI which can work autonomously— the ability to synthesize and summarize scientific knowledge, evaluate results, and then reason and execute the next actions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Anyone can use AI to do the basics: summarize meetings, draft briefings and manage calendars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
Some U.S. officials said the meeting was moving forward with three days of talks on sensitive topics sprinkled with media engagements to summarize closed-door discussions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
It has released new AI features that allow users to improve their writing, translate text, summarize messages and create images.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
We can summarize this in two words: Science Works.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The most common red flag is an articulate comment that merely summarizes the post it’s addressing, Roth said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Yeah, the skit you used of him saying “I’m just a man from the ghetto” on the song really summarizes that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Savouri summarizes the problem as “analogue economics in a digital monetary world.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 15, 2026
"This means that the magma that is now present in the magma reservoir under the lava dome is likely newly injected magma," summarizes Seama.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
Table 5.1 summarizes, for these and other areas of local domestication, some of the best-known crops and animals and the earliest known dates of domestication.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Scientists do not currently agree on exactly what belongs in that category, a problem Kennedy summarized with characteristic bluntness: “If you can’t define a problem, you can’t solve it.”
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Gen. Rob Bonta’s office summarized a strict new voter ID measure on November ballots — ruling that the summary language accurately describes the measure’s effects were it to pass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
That behavior appears to conflict with Newton's third law, the famous action and reaction principle often summarized as "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 16, 2026
When you ask AI to summarize something for you, ask yourself: Could I have read this in five minutes and summarized it myself?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Nathan’s post is perfunctory, as if it’s been summarized from his earlier statements.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
Lawmakers produced an internal JPMorgan email summarizing a 2011 “rapid response” meeting on Epstein in which compliance officers advised that executives meet with Staley to explain “the HT project,” and Epstein’s potential impact.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
According to Tim Mackey, a professor of global health at the University of California, San Diego, A.I. responses appear to be getting better at summarizing research, weighing credibility, and discerning misinformation.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
The state now has 49 days to address the issues outlined in a report released Thursday summarizing the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
“My AI is in the room during Zoom calls with clients. It’s taking notes, summarizing the meeting and writing follow-up emails.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
In division, you start by summarizing the salient points of agreement, then set out the points that are at issue.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
