Meaning & use
summon
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To order or ask someone to come to you, usually in an official way.
Grammar: Takes an object, often followed by to: summon her to the office.
Patterns
- summon someone to somewhere
- summon someone to do something
The principal summoned both students to her office.
The king summoned his advisers to the palace.
He was summoned to court as a witness.
verbtransitiveformal
To gather a feeling, strength or courage from inside yourself so that you can do something hard.
Grammar: Takes an object, often with up: summon up courage.
Patterns
- summon up something
- summon the strength to do something
She summoned the courage to speak in front of the class.
He barely summoned the energy to climb the stairs.
The runner summoned one last burst of speed.
verbtransitiveliterary
To bring about or call forth by magic or as if by magic.
Grammar: Takes an object: summon a spirit.
Patterns
- summon something up
In the story, the wizard summons a spirit from the lake.
The scent summoned memories of her childhood.
Word forms
| third person singular | summons |
|---|---|
| past tense | summoned |
| past participle | summoned |
| -ing form | summoning |
Common combinations
- summon help
- He ran to the road to summon help.
- summon up courage
- She summoned up the courage to apply.
- summon a meeting
- The chairman summoned an emergency meeting.
- summon to court
- The witness was summoned to court.
- summon the strength
- I could barely summon the strength to stand.
- summon a waiter
- He raised a hand to summon the waiter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- call
- Call is the ordinary word and works in any setting, while summon sounds official or dramatic.
- convene
- Convene means to bring a group together for a meeting, not a single person.
- muster
- Muster is common for gathering courage or strength, like summon up, but also for gathering troops.
- send for
- Send for is less formal and means asking someone to come, often by message.
Opposites
Word family
- summons noun
- an official order to appear in court
- summoner noun
- a person who summons
- summoning noun
- the act of calling someone
- summonable adjective
- able to be called officially
Commonly confused: summon or summit? summon or sum?
summon vs summit
A summit is the top of a mountain or an important meeting, not an act of calling someone.
summon vs sum
Sum is a total amount, and is unrelated though similar in sound at the start.
Practice
After weeks of worrying, Maya finally _____ the courage to ask for a raise.
Choose one answer.
Summoned up courage means gathered the courage inside yourself. The other words are similar-looking but have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “summon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.