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summarize

verb

Simple meaning

To give a short version of the main points.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

suhmerahyz

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsʌmɚaɪz

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To give a recapitulation of the salient facts; to recapitulate or review.

  2. ambitransitive

    Give a summary (of)

    “The abstract summarizes the main ideas in the paper.”

  3. ambitransitive

    To prepare a summary of (something).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (ambitransitive) To give a recapitulation of the salient facts; to recapitulate or review.

Used this way, summarize is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use summarize

  • “The abstract summarizes the main ideas in the paper.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

briefly summarizenow summarizesummarize data

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • summarizationnounDerived noun

    The act of preparing a summary (or an instance thereof).

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.