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:
Our main approach has a model summarize someone’s pseudonymous posts into a profile built from facts, then compares that profile against a pool of other accounts to find the closest match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
To summarize, Nelson said: “It is important to let winners run. Common mistakes are to sell winners too soon and keep losers for too long.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The company said the suite of tools can give any agent —an AI which can work autonomously— the ability to synthesize and summarize scientific knowledge, evaluate results, and then reason and execute the next actions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Employees use it to summarize meetings, draft emails and generate first cuts of presentations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
I could quickly assess and summarize the usability of the many books I consulted.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
"Since dietary decisions are strongly influenced by reward assessment and physical state, targeted breath regulation could also play a role in consciously perceiving and more effectively managing eating behavior," Park summarizes for future research activities.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
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
Table 5.1 summarizes, for these and other areas of local domestication, some of the best-known crops and animals and the earliest known dates of domestication.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Scientists do not currently agree on exactly what belongs in that category, a problem Kennedy summarized with characteristic bluntness: “If you can’t define a problem, you can’t solve it.”
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 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
“Most large companies have a view of their vendors that can be summarized as, ‘I’m going to allow you to do business with me, so that I can make money off of you.’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The study identified several major patterns, which are summarized below along with simplified explanations.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
The short article summarized the details in the case, including that the police were still looking for a third man and that they were conducting intense searches for Emmett up around Money.
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
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
The state now has 49 days to address the issues outlined in a report released Thursday summarizing the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
“My AI is in the room during Zoom calls with clients. It’s taking notes, summarizing the meeting and writing follow-up emails.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
One Claude agent has been serving as a “builder” and another serves as an auditor, summarizing the work the first agent did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
In division, you start by summarizing the salient points of agreement, then set out the points that are at issue.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
