summarize

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
English summary
Proto-Indo-European *-id-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti
Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor.
Late Latin -izōder.
Middle French -iserbor.
Middle English -isen
English -ize
English summarize

    From summary + -ize.

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    summarize (third-person singular simple present summarizes, present participle summarizing, simple past and past participle summarized)

    1. (ambitransitive) To prepare a summary of (something).
      Synonym: (especially in writing) brief
      Jim was asked to summarize the document by Wednesday.
    2. (ambitransitive) To give a recapitulation of the salient facts; to recapitulate or review.
      Synonym: sum up
      After the meeting, Jim summarized the major decisions made.
      • 2026 June 15, Charles Hugh Smith, We Don't Need the World, We Only Need Money‎[1], archived from the original on 20 September 2026:
        An old friend summarized the mindset of much of the developed world wryly and succinctly: "We don't need the world, we only need money." In other words, we don't actually need real-world sources of life's essentials that are within our control or a functional biosphere because since we can buy everything we could possibly want or need with money. So, money is all we need.

    Usage notes

    • Not to be confused with the similar-sounding summerize.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Translations

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