summation

[suh-mey-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR summation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act or process of summing.

the result of this; an aggregate or total.

a review or recapitulation of previously stated facts or statements, often with a final conclusion or conclusions drawn from them.

Law. the final arguments of opposing attorneys before a case goes to the jury.

Physiology. the arousal of impulses by a rapid succession of stimuli, carried either by separate sensory neurons (spatial summation) or by the same sensory neuron (temporal summation).

Origin of summation

1750–60; < Medieval Latin summātiōn- (stem of summātiō), equivalent to summāt(us) (past participle of summāre to sum; see -ate¹) + -iōn- -ion

Related formssum·ma·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for summation

addition, aggregate, sum

Examples from the Web for summation

Contemporary Examples of summation

Per Kundera, tweets and blogs translate every link, adding ideology in the guise of summation.
John Mayer's Terrible Week
Rob Tannenbaum
February 12, 2010
“She is not Amanda the Ripper,” Bongiorno told the jury in her summation.
Amanda Knox's Last Chance
Barbie Latza Nadeau
November 30, 2009
"3 words... Los Angeles Lifetime," suggested Tim Smith, a New York artists' studio manager, in a summation of the season.
Five Gays on Project Runway's Demise
Choire Sicha
November 17, 2009

Historical Examples of summation

In which summation he showed himself indeed a “sumner,” as it was called of yore.
Memoirs
Charles Godfrey Leland
Continued proportion, the series and the summation of the series.
Electric Gas Lighting
Norman H. Schneider
He also seems to agree with your summation of the Islamic problem.
Black Man's Burden
Dallas McCord Reynolds
A number of us were doing our best to apprehend the summation of all this flood of change.
What is Coming?
H. G. Wells
He is the summation of selfishness because he puts his decisions and determinations above those of any or all others.
Idling in Italy
Joseph Collins

British Dictionary definitions for summation

summation

noun

the act or process of determining a sum; addition

the result of such an act or process

a summary

US law the concluding statements made by opposing counsel in a case before a court

Derived Formssummational, adjectivesummative, adjective

Word Origin for summation

C18: from Medieval Latin summātiō, from summāre to total, from Latin summa sum 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for summation

1760, from Modern Latin summationem (nominative summatio) "an adding up," from Late Latin summatus, past participle of summare "to sum up," from Latin summa (see sum).

summation in Medicine

summation

[sə-mā′shən]

n.

The process by which multiple or repeated stimuli can produce a response in a nerve, muscle, or other part that one stimulus alone cannot produce.