Summon Meaning
/ˈsʌmən/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo call people together; to convene; to convoke.
verbTo ask someone to come; to send for.
Sentence Examples
Summon up your courage and tell the truth.
Mary hoped that Tom would summon up the courage to kiss her.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The king used a special horn to ____ his knights from far away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The king decided to ____ all his advisors to the throne room to discuss the recent and urgent news today.
Word Origin & History
From Anglo-Norman somoundre, from Old French sumundre, from Latin summonēre, itself from sub + monēre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti, causative from *men- (“to think”). Compare typologically from the same PIE root mention, Russian помина́ть (pominátʹ), упомина́ть (upominátʹ) (developed less further, keeping strong relation with по́мнить (pómnitʹ)), also compare помина́й как зва́ли (pomináj kak zváli) (<+ звать (zvatʹ)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Silence is primary, summoning presence to itself; so it's a connection to the realm of origin."
— 2007, John Zerzan, Silence:
"The cousins separated, and Nain Singh joined a caravan posing as a merchant. This time he crossed the border successfully. Singh eventually entered Jih-k’a-tse, the second-largest city in Tibet. It was in Jih-k’a-tse that he was summoned to meet the country’s second-highest religious authority, the Panchen Lama, who turned out to be only 11 years old."
— 1995, Explorers & Discoverers, volume 2, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 753:
"You can summon groceries, alcohol and medicines to your home: chips and vodka on New Year’s Eve, say, and then aspirin on New Year’s Day."
— 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
"For securing the attainment of what he considered to be a most desirable end, he summoned all his abilities with a most praiseworthy energy and perseverance."
— 1866, Pierre Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese, with annotations and notice on the Phongyies or Burmese monks, page 396:
"“Why won't you teach me to summon water? I can summon fire so easily, it's only logical that I should learn to put out my mistakes.”"
— 2010, Kay Hooper, The Wizard of Seattle, Fanfare, →ISBN:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The king used a special horn to ____ his knights from far away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The king decided to ____ all his advisors to the throne room to discuss the recent and urgent news today.