summary
Americannoun
-
summaries
plural
adjective
-
brief and comprehensive; concise.
-
direct and prompt; unceremoniously fast.
to treat someone with summary dispatch.
-
(of legal proceedings, jurisdiction, etc.) conducted without, or exempt from, the various steps and delays of a formal trial.
noun
adjective
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performed arbitrarily and quickly, without formality
a summary execution
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(of legal proceedings) short and free from the complexities and delays of a full trial
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the right a court has to adjudicate immediately upon some matter arising during its proceedings
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giving the gist or essence
Synonym Usage
Summary, brief, digest, synopsis are terms for a short version of a longer work. A summary is a brief statement or restatement of main points, especially as a conclusion to a work: a summary of a chapter. A brief is a detailed outline, by heads and subheads, of a discourse (usually legal) to be completed: a brief for an argument. A digest is an abridgment of an article, book, etc., or an organized arrangement of material under heads and titles: a digest of a popular novel; a digest of Roman law. A synopsis is usually a compressed statement of the plot of a novel, play, etc.: a synopsis of Hamlet.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of summary
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin summārium, equivalent to summ(a) “sum” + -ārium noun suffix; see sum, -ary
Explanation
A summary gives a short overview, or the main points, of something longer. She talked for days about the 800-page romantic novel, but her boyfriend's summary was "Girl meets boy, boy meets girl, boy rides horse into sunset, girl meets new boy. The end." Summary is a noun, and "summery" is an adjective, but they sound alike and both describe something short. A summer feels like a short piece of a long year, and a summary is a short statement about a longer piece. When a long speech or writing needs retelling in a short amount of time, a summary conveys the meaning in fewer words. Often a book cover has a summary of what's inside, and an introduction has a summary of the main points in a chapter.
Vocabulary lists containing summary
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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:
After Cohen’s election, her office found itself in a public dispute over the state’s annual comprehensive financial report, a summary of California’s spending.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
In his statement, Van Houten included a summary of what Jane Doe told the Cornell University Police Department in 2024 after the alleged attack.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Later that day, focus turns to the BOJ’s summary of opinions from its September meeting, where it raised its policy rate to 1.25%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
There was no way, with my brain fog, I could have remembered everything my oncologists told me and having so much information-—including the visit summary notes-—in one place was an absolute lifesaver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The phrase ‘in model’ is extremely rare, but a single sheet published in 1651 is described in its title as a summary of Christian doctrine ‘in model’: it is a wall-chart.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Among those, they noted a model during training “writing jailbreak-like instructions” into its summaries used to continue a new task in a new context, which OpenAI said they believed to be “extremely rare.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
“Interruptions are an indication that you’re winning,” said Tarlov, evoking the pithy chapter summaries in “I Disagree.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Now, with AI summaries and LLMs, Baden and her colleagues have to be creative with how they write updates to this map to ensure LLMs aggregate the information accurately.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
The most egregious error in the dot plot was in the summaries of December 2020 and March 2021, when the funds rate was zero.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Timelines, summaries, and comparison charts appear throughout the book to help the reader absorb and retain important points.
From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell
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.
