summer
1 Americannoun
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the season between spring and autumn, in the Northern Hemisphere from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, and in the Southern Hemisphere from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox.
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the period comprising the months of June, July, and August in the United States, and from the middle of May to the middle of August in Great Britain.
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a period of hot, usually sunny weather.
We had no real summer last year.
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the hotter half of the year (opposed to winter).
They spend the summers in New Hampshire and the winters in Florida.
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the period of finest development, perfection, or beauty previous to any decline.
the summer of life.
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a whole year as represented by this season.
a girl of fifteen summers.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of summer.
Iced tea is a summer drink.
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appropriate for or done during the summer.
summer clothes;
summer sports.
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having the weather or warmth of summer.
summer days in late October.
verb (used without object)
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summers,
present (3rd person singular)
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summered,
past participle, past
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summering
present participle
verb (used with object)
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summers,
present (3rd person singular)
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summered,
past participle, past
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summering
present participle
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to keep, feed, or manage during the summer.
Sheep are summered in high pastures.
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to make summerlike.
noun
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a principal beam or girder, as one running between girts to support joists.
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a stone laid upon a pier, column, or wall, from which one or more arches spring: usually molded or otherwise treated like the arch or arches springing from it.
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a beam or lintel.
noun
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(sometimes capital)
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the warmest season of the year, between spring and autumn, astronomically from the June solstice to the September equinox in the N hemisphere and at the opposite time of year in the S hemisphere
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( as modifier )
summer flowers
a summer dress
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the period of hot weather associated with the summer
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a time of blossoming, greatest happiness, etc
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poetic a year represented by this season
a child of nine summers
verb
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(intr) to spend the summer (at a place)
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(tr) to keep or feed (farm animals) during the summer
they summered their cattle on the mountain slopes
noun
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Also called: summer tree. a large horizontal beam or girder, esp one that supports floor joists
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another name for lintel
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a stone on the top of a column, pier, or wall that supports an arch or lintel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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summersimple
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summerssimple
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have summeredperfect
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has summeredperfect
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am summeringprogressive
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are summeringprogressive
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is summeringprogressive
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have been summeringperfect progressive
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has been summeringperfect progressive
Past
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summeredsimple
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had summeredperfect
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was summeringprogressive
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were summeringprogressive
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had been summeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of summer1
First recorded before 900; Middle English somer, Old English sumor; cognate with Dutch zomer, German Sommer, Old Norse sumar “summer”; akin to Sanskrit sámā “season, half-year, year,” Old Irish sam-, Old Welsh ham, Welsh haf “summer”
Origin of summer2
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English somer, from Anglo-French; Old French somier “packhorse, beam,” from unattested Vulgar Latin saumārius, equivalent to Latin sagm(a) “packsaddle” (from Greek ságma ) + -ārius noun suffix; see -ary, -er 2
Explanation
Summer is the season after spring and before autumn. In the summer, the weather is warmer and many students get a break from school. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, summer lasts from June to September, and if you travel in December to Australia or somewhere else in the Southern Hemisphere, you'll get to experience summer all over again. When fancy people talk about what they do during the summer, they may use it as a verb: "Oh, we summer in Maine."
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:
Following a record-breaking summer of extreme heat and prolonged dry weather, UK weather patterns are set to change.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Something we haven't seen much - if really at all - this summer.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
The exercise, which runs for 11 days, is a regular summer fixture for South Korea's armed forces and their US allies, designed to steel them for defense against the nuclear-armed North.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Inflation peaked several months later, in the summer of 2022, after the Fed finally started raising rates in the spring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
I was wrung out from everything that had happened, the whole summer, everyone, even my own family.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
To honor their mother’s wishes, three siblings return to the island of their childhood summers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Research in 2022 estimated that more than 14 percent of the global population has had the disease, warning that transmission rates could increase as climate change brings longer, drier summers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
It could be that the summers of 2024 and 2025 happened to feature new coronavirus strains that spread quickly, like the FLiRT subvariant of 2024 and the Nimbus and Stratus subvariants of 2025, Chin-Hong said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“It’s a difficult spot to be in and my heart hurts,” said Marina Haynes, who grew up in Tuxedni Bay and spends summers working at her family’s fishing business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Ito paid Papá more than us because Papá was a better picker and because he had worked for Ito for several summers.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
He visited the island in 1958, skipping his Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduation ceremony to join his wife, who summered there growing up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Richard Nixon — who was born in Yorba Linda, attended Fullerton High, had his first law office in La Habra and summered in San Clemente during his presidency — might seem like an obvious choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is particularly beloved in Castel Gandolfo, where he joined a centuries-long list of pontiffs who summered at the papal villa overlooking Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2023
The idea for the book dawned in 1994, when the Smiths, a white family who summered on Edisto Beach, asked a friend if he knew someone who could prepare meals for them.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2022
During the summer break from school, the Gobles worked as live-in help for a New York family that summered in Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Later that decade, Avery befriended Rothko and then Gottlieb, and by 1932 all three were summering in Gloucester, spending their mornings sketching or painting the harbor, the wharfs, the sea, the beach and the bathers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
He’s boastfully summering in Italy and reveling in his luxurious wedding on All-In, the podcast that he co-hosts.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2023
Nevertheless, Dorsey, who is also the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, began thinking of acquiring Tidal after summering with his friend Carter in the Hamptons in 2020, according to court documents.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2023
I've been summering there for 20 years, probably.
From Salon ● May 3, 2023
“The fever has assumed a most alarming appearance,” Rush wrote to his wife, Julia, who was summering in Princeton with their youngest children.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
