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:
Forty-eight percent of students in the Fordham survey admitted to using AI to solve math problems, 36% to summarize books, 29% to write first drafts or essays, and 26% for help during quizzes and tests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Artificial intelligence has proven it can speed up what humans already know how to do: write software, summarize earnings calls and automate routine tasks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
With half of 2026 having already flown by, it is time to summarize which stocks have performed best so far this year.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Government workers can use Claude to draft and summarize documents, analyze information and do other tasks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
To summarize, we see that unemployment remains the state’s major economic and social problem.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
These worrying landmarks reinforce a market perception that fixed-income investments are losing bets, a sentiment Hartnett summarizes as “Anything But Bonds.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 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
Another file summarizes statements from seven federal government employees who separately reported "several unidentified anomalous phenomena" in the United States in 2023.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
And many traditional searches now produce an “AI Overview” that summarizes results at the top of the page.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
As Table 7.1 summarizes, the domestication of local cereal / pulse combinations launched food production in many areas.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
The answer is best summarized by a response from one of the documentary’s co-directors, Julia Willoughby Nason, when asked whether she thinks Netflix is the top source for true crime obsessives.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 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
For a married couple, that income range would be $161,551 to $323,200, as summarized by NerdWallet.
From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026
The study identified several major patterns, which are summarized below along with simplified explanations.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
Terryl summarized all this, and then added a final sentence.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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
They often tune them to excel at narrow tasks, like summarizing documents or answering customer questions on company-specific topics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The White House typically releases physician-written memos summarizing presidential physicals, translating full medical records into condensed clinical findings for public release.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
The idea is called “lifecording” — that there’s an abundance of hardware devices recording your life, with AI processing, summarizing, searching and finding insights and connections.
From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026
After summarizing the Crown’s case against us, Vernon Berrange, our lead counsel, announced our argument.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
