summarize

summarize — verb

1. to explain the main points of a longer piece of writing, a speech, or a meeting

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

to explain the main points of a longer piece of writing, a speech, or a meeting in a brief and clear way

Example

Élise summarized the three-hundred-page report for her manager in just two paragraphs.

summarize + noun phrase + for + person

Wren summarized each chapter as a short list of key dates for the exam.

summarize + noun phrase + into [condensed form]

Common collocations
  • summarize a report
  • summarize an article
  • summarize the findings
  • summarize the plot
  • summarize the main points
Synonyms
  • condense

    suggests making something more compact, often by reducing word count rather than restructuring the content

  • outline

    focuses on the main structure or headings rather than covering every key point in detail

  • recap

    informal; used mainly in spoken contexts to quickly remind someone of what was said or happened

Antonyms
  • elaborate

    to add more detail and explanation, the opposite of condensing information

Grammar Patterns

summarize + noun phrase

summarize + noun phrase + for + person

summarize + noun phrase + into + noun phrase

to summarize (discourse marker)

Usage Note

Both transitive and intransitive uses are common. The intransitive discourse-marker use ('To summarize,…') is used mainly in spoken or written concluding statements and takes a comma after the phrase.

Common Mistakes

Please summarize me the report.
Please summarize the report for me.
'summarize' does not take an indirect object directly; use 'for' to introduce the person receiving the summary.
She summarized the novel but she also concluded it with her own opinion.
She summarized the novel and then added her own conclusion.
'summarize' means to restate the main points; 'conclude' means to end with a final judgment.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Summarize means to give the main points of something in a shorter form. Condense suggests making something more compact while keeping the essential content, often by cutting words rather than restructuring. Outline focuses on the main structure or headings of a topic without covering every key idea. Recap is far more informal than the others and is used mainly in spoken contexts to quickly remind someone of what happened. For example, a student summarizes a chapter before an exam, a writer condenses a novel into a screenplay, a speaker outlines the three main sections of a presentation, and a friend recaps a TV episode you missed.

summarize ↗condenseoutline ↗recap

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • to summarize
  • in summary

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Comes from Latin 'summa' (total, sum), which led to 'summarium' (abstract, summary). The noun 'summary' entered English in the 1400s from Latin via French. The verb 'summarize' was formed by adding '-ize' to 'summary' in the early 1800s.