summary
Americannoun
plural
summariesadjective
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brief and comprehensive; concise.
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direct and prompt; unceremoniously fast.
to treat someone with summary dispatch.
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(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
Related Words
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
- summarily adverb
- summariness noun
Etymology
Origin of summary
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin summārium, equivalent to summ(a) “sum” + -ārium noun suffix; sum, -ary
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.
The State Department assigned a small group of staffers to support Witkoff, but members of that team, and others across the administration, have struggled to get summaries of Witkoff’s foreign meetings.
China’s lending-rate decision, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s last meeting and a summary of opinions from the Bank of Japan will be in focus.
The summary explains that “very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling documents.”
Federal Reserve officials estimate that real GDP will grow by just 1.7% in 2025, according to the latest summary of economic projections released earlier in December.
From Barron's
The first meeting between the Sooners and Crimson Tide, in Tuscaloosa, was a perfect summary of the Sooners’ ugly, but undeniably effective, style.
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.
