summarise

Summarise is a verb in British English meaning to create a concise version of a text, speech, or event by restating its main points. A summary should capture the essential ideas, conclusions, and necessary details while omitting less important material. It differs from a full paraphrase in that it aims to be substantially shorter and more focused.

To summarise, read or listen carefully, determine the purpose, identify the central claim, and select the key supporting points. Then condense these into a shorter form, using your own words and neutral language, while preserving the source's meaning and ordering of ideas.

There are two common approaches: extractive summarisation, which selects and compiles key sentences from the source, and abstractive summarisation, which rephrases content and may synthesize information not verbatim from the text.

Etymology and spelling: the word derives from Latin summa, meaning "total," with the suffix -ize introduced in English. "Summarise" is the standard British spelling; American English uses "summarize." The concept is used across education, journalism, and research, and it is increasingly applied in information technology through automatic summarisation.