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

In summary, Google has reduced the usability and information density of its multitasking without gaining much of anything. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "Android’s new multitasking is terrible and should be changed back," 20 Oct. 2018 In summary: What could be more convenient than that? — Elizabeth Kiefer, Glamour, "Amazon's Little-Known Beauty Sample Shop Is the Best Discovery I Ever Made," 8 Aug. 2018 The frequency of the financial phenomenon increases or declines as companies gain or lose coverage by Wall Street financial analysts, the authors wrote in a summary of the findings. — Kevin Mccoy, USA TODAY, "SEC probes whether companies nudged earnings per share higher, report says," 22 June 2018 In summary: five prime-time games, two home games to start and end the season, four road games in six weeks with one home game and the bye smashed between, three 2017 NFC division winners in four weeks, three road games before the final two weeks. — Josh Katzenstein, NOLA.com, "New Orleans Saints 2018 preseason schedule with dates and times," 20 Apr. 2018 There is no mention of homosexuality being a criminal offense in the bid book, nor in the 27-page executive page executive summary. — Bloomberg.com, "AP Exclusive: Morocco World Cup Bid Masks Homosexuality Ban," 16 Apr. 2018 Instead, Ars Pro subscribers will see headlines, lower deks (the brief summaries that accompany story headlines), and the first three paragraphs of each story. — Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, "Introducing Classic View, a new way for subscribers to browse Ars," 18 Sep. 2018 In summary, here are the two biggest changes that the Trump administration is seeking to push through. — Brian Resnick, Vox, "The Endangered Species Act is incredibly popular. The administration is seeking to weaken it anyway.," 20 July 2018 Al-Nashiri's torture is detailed in Feinstein's 2014 report, some of which is publicly available in the 525-page summary. — Emily Cadei, sacbee, "Feinstein has had Gina Haspel over for dinner, but has 'deep concerns' about the CIA nominee," 8 May 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.