Definition of SUMMARY

Choose the Right Synonym for summary

Adjective

concise, terse, succinct, laconic, summary, pithy, compendious mean very brief in statement or expression. concise suggests the removal of all that is superfluous or elaborative. a concise description terse implies pointed conciseness. a terse reply succinct implies the greatest possible compression. a succinct letter of resignation laconic implies brevity to the point of seeming rude, indifferent, or mysterious. an aloof and laconic stranger summary suggests the statement of main points with no elaboration or explanation. a summary listing of the year's main events pithy adds to succinct or terse the implication of richness of meaning or substance. a comedy sharpened by pithy one-liners compendious applies to what is at once full in scope and brief and concise in treatment. a compendious dictionary

Examples of summary in a Sentence

Adjective

a summary account of the accident obviously a one-volume encyclopedia can offer only a very summary account of the American Civil War

Noun

He concluded the report with a brief summary. They gave a summary of their progress in building the bridge.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

There is also summary information about the journal’s authors—tables group them by country and institution. — Matt Warren, Science | AAAS, "Firm that tallies controversial journal impact scores moves to provide more context," 27 June 2018 Missouri already has a Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review Board within the Department of Health and Senior Services that collects data and issues summary reports on maternal deaths in the state. — Andy Marso, kansascity, "Missouri among worst nationally in maternal deaths. Reps say no to study on issue," 3 June 2018 Total loans and leases grew by almost 5 percent from the same period in 2017, to about $81.8 billion, according to the FDIC's summary report on Wisconsin banks. — Paul Gores, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wisconsin banks post strong first quarter, FDIC report shows," 22 May 2018 Under the bill, possession of a small amount of marijuana — 30 grams or less — would be a summary offense rather than a misdemeanor. — Christina Tatu, Philly.com, "Where marijuana has been decriminalized in Pa.," 9 May 2018 One special forces commander, Mahmoud al-Werfalli, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in seven summary mass executions in which 33 people were killed. — Declan Walsh, New York Times, "Libyan Strongman’s Illness Stokes Fears of a Succession Feud," 19 Apr. 2018 Requests last fall by The Times for documents were answered only with summary data of recent complaints, 31 legislative investigations since 2006. — John Myers, latimes.com, "California Legislature discloses seven sexual misconduct investigations from 1990s and 2000s," 6 Apr. 2018 The next major task facing the Style and Drafting Committee will be approving the ballot-title and summary language for each of the dozen measures. — Sun-Sentinel.com, "Offshore drilling combined with vaping in ballot measure proposal," 5 Apr. 2018 On March 16, Walton told Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan Jr. that the charges against Rahman would be resolved with a plea to a summary offense of criminal mischief, signaling that the three other charges would be dropped. — Julie Shaw, Philly.com, "Man accused of defacing Rizzo statue gets community service," 28 Mar. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

That is an adequate, undisputed summary of what happened to Brendan Hester on June 2, 2017. — Michael Harriot, The Root, "All Black People Are Victims of Police Brutality," 26 June 2018 In order to better clarify the project information going forward, Poppe said the flood control district is considering adding a one-page summary for each watershed’s nuances to their website. — Jane Stueckemann, Houston Chronicle, "Cypress Creek-area residents review county flood control plans," 19 June 2018 The Pentagon released an eight-page summary report Thursday, withholding thousands of pages of witness statements, maps and other documents and a longer report of about 180 pages. — Dan Lamothe And Missy Ryan, BostonGlobe.com, "Military investigation of Niger debacle finds numerous failures in planning," 10 May 2018 Kucinich on Monday initially released the summary pages from his 2015 and 2016 taxes, prompting criticism from primary challenger Richard Cordray. — Seth A. Richardson, cleveland.com, "Dennis Kucinich says the bulk of his consulting fees came from anti-G.M.O. group," 1 May 2018 According to a summary of the incident provided to the board, the deputies confronted Martinez and ordered him to place his hands behind his back. — Nina Agrawal, latimes.com, "L.A. County officials approve $3.5 million in payouts over law enforcement misconduct," 10 July 2018 Instead, the PSA Model relies on nine factors, which were determined through testing hundreds of risk factors, according to a research summary of the project on the Laura and John Arnold Foundation's website. — Laura Mcknight, NOLA.com, "New Orleans aims to lower jail population with new risk-assessment tool," 24 Apr. 2018 Its rules require applicants to submit a summary of their previous testing experiences (in other places or on private facilities), crashes and other incidents, and to have a safety driver in place during the testing process, among other information. — Aarian Marshall, WIRED, "Massachusetts Welcomes Self-Driving Cars—With a Couple Caveats," 21 June 2018 The draft Land Use Plan and a summary of LUAC’s final recommendations are available online at www.sugarlandtx.gov/LandUsePlan. — Staff Report, Houston Chronicle, "Draft Land Use Plan public hearing set for June 26," 19 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'summary.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.