summon

verb

sum·​mon ˈsə-mən 

summoned; summoning ˈsə-mə-niŋ 

ˈsəm-niŋ

transitive verb

1

: to issue a call to convene : convoke

2

: to command by service of a summons to appear in court

3

: to call upon for specified action

4

: to bid to come : send for

summon a physician

5

: to call forth : evoke

—often used with up

summonable

ˈsə-mə-nə-bəl 

adjective

summoner

ˈsə-mə-nər 

ˈsəm-nər

noun

Synonyms

• call
• hail

Choose the Right Synonym for summon

summon, call, cite, convoke, convene, muster mean to demand the presence of.

summon implies the exercise of authority.

was summoned to answer charges

call may be used less formally for summon.

called the legislature into special session

cite implies a summoning to court usually to answer a charge.

cited for drunken driving

convoke implies a summons to assemble for deliberative or legislative purposes.

convoked a Vatican council

convene is somewhat less formal than convoke.

convened the students

muster suggests a calling up of a number of things that form a group in order that they may be exhibited, displayed, or utilized as a whole.

mustered the troops

Examples of summon in a Sentence

The queen summoned him back to the palace.

without explanation, the managing editor summoned me to his office

Recent Examples on the Web

Police were summoned to a house near Newport Coast Drive and Pelican Hill Road North at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday by a 911 call about a home invasion in progress. —Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2024

Torres previously told the Herald he was summoned to the State Attorney’s Office for an interview on the subject following his appearance on Corben’s show. —Sarah Blaskey, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2024

Dorothy’s tornado is summoned with a flurry of pirouetting dancers in billowing gray fabrics. —Maya Phillips, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024

The clip opens at the White House, where Sam Wilson has been summoned by Thunderbolt Ross, who is now president. —Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Apr. 2024

At the top, the president has not, after two years, summoned the rhetorical force to explain to the American people, in a way that Franklin Roosevelt did, and that John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan would have, why this faraway war means so much for the American future. —Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2024

The cartel leaders summoned Garcia to a wooded area, along with another man and a married couple, believed to be Garcia's relatives. —Beth Warren, USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2024

Then a wealthy shipbuilder, Mr. Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan), father of an acquaintance of Ripley’s, summons him with a proposition. —Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024

The bowl’s hemisphere can summon to mind the 18th-century French architect Étienne-Louis Boullée’s famous unbuilt monument to Newton, a textbook example of Enlightenment idealism. —Michael Kimmelman Clement Pascal, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English somnen, somonen, from Anglo-French somondre, from Vulgar Latin *summonere, alteration of Latin summonēre to remind secretly, from sub- secretly + monēre to warn — more at sub-, mind

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing summon

• summon up

Kids Definition

summon

verb

sum·​mon ˈsəm-ən 

summoned; summoning -(ə-)niŋ 

1

: to call or send for in order to meet : convene

2

: to order to appear before a court of law

3

: to send for

summon a physician

4

: to call into being

summon up courage

summoner

-(ə-)nər 

noun

Legal Definition

summon

transitive verb

sum·​mon

: to command by service of a summons to appear in court