Word.ws English Dictionary

summer

Syllables: sum·merUK/ˈsʌmə//ˈsʌmɚ/

summer noun: one of four seasons, traditionally the second, marked by the longest and typically hottest days of the year due to the inclination of the Earth and thermal lag. Typically regarded as spanning either the period between the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, or the months of June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere and the months of December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

summer: one of four seasons, traditionally the second, marked by the longest and typically hottest days of...
Image: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

summer (countable and uncountable, plural summers)

  1. One of four seasons, traditionally the second, marked by the longest and typically hottest days of the year due to the inclination of the Earth and thermal lag. Typically regarded as spanning either the period between the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, or the months of June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere and the months of December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.
    • the heat of summer
    • Gradually, the end of summer hove into sight.
  2. (humorous, poetic) year; used to give the age of a person, usually a young one.
    • He was barely eighteen summers old.
    • She had seen not more than twenty summers.
  3. (figuratively) Most flourishing, happy, or beautiful period; golden age, prime.
    • O! craving heart, for the lost flowers
      And sunshine of my summer hours!1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems
    • Here we are in our summer years / Livin' on ice cream and chocolate kisses / Would the leaves fall from the trees / If I was your old man and you was my missus1986, Billy Bragg, “Greetings to the New Brunette”, in Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, track 1
  4. (countable) Someone with light, pinkish skin that has a blue undertone, light hair and eyes, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

Verb

summer (third-person singular simple present summers, present participle summering, simple past and past participle summered)

  1. (intransitive) To spend the summer, as in a particular place on holiday.
    • She had summered in England and France and Germany and Switzerland. She had wintered in Italy and Egypt and India and Spain.1930, Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace, Part III, Chapter II, page 282
    • For he was an oddity, a black multimillionaire who summered on the Riviera, had an apartment in Paris and a penthouse, in a building he owned, high above Sugar Hill.1970, Wally Ferris, Across 110th, page 228

Noun (2)

summer (plural summers)

  1. A horizontal beam supporting a building.
    • And we are warned, that the foundation or maine summers of our houses faile and shrinke, when we see the quarters bend, or wals to breake.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 43, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 146
  2. (obsolete) A pack-horse.

Noun (3)

summer (plural summers)

  1. A person who sums.
  2. A machine or algorithm that sums.
    • A basic feedback system consists of ... and a summing point (comparator or summer).2014, Michael R. Lindeburg, chapter 48, in FE Mechanical Review Manual, page 2
    • The output of the summer is therefore fed into the input of the first integrator.2016, George H. Olsen, Ian Burdess, Computers and Microprocessors: Made Simple, page 36
    Synonyms:
    totaller

Proper noun capitalized: Summer

Summer (plural Summers)

  1. A female given name from English of modern usage, from summer, the name of the season, often given to girls born in summer.
  2. A surname.

Noun (4) capitalized: Summer

Summer (countable and uncountable, plural Summers)

  1. (archaic, poetic) Alternative letter-case form of summer.
    • I am very prodigall of cappings, namely in Summer, and I never receive any from what quality of men ſoever, but I giue them as good and as many as they bring, except he be ſome ſervant of mine.1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Presumption”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 368
    • Notwithstanding the tristness of the town, there are many visitors during the Summer who come for quiet and economy.1844, Charles Wilkes, “Jaunt into Pennsylvania”, in William James Morgan, David B. Tyler, Joye L. Leonhart, Mary F. Loughlin, editors, Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, U. S. Navy...

summer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

summer in Hindi

hottest season
ग्रीष्म grīṣma, गर्मी garmī, गर्मियां garmiyā̃

summer in Tamil

hottest season
கோடை காலம் kōṭai kālam

summer in Marathi

hottest season
उन्हाळा unhāḷā

summer in Urdu

hottest season
گَرْمی garmī, گِرِیشم girīśm, گَرْما garmā, تابستان, صَیف saif
More languagesFewer languages
summer in Bengali
গ্রীষ্ম griśśõ
summer in Telugu
వేసవి vēsavi, ఎండకాలము eṇḍakālamu
summer in Malayalam
വേനൽക്കാലം vēnalkkālaṁ
summer in Kannada
ಬೇಸಗೆ bēsage, ಗ್ರೀಷ್ಮ grīṣma, ಋತು ṛtu
summer in Punjabi
ਗਰਮੀ garmī, ਹੁਨਾਲ਼ਾ hunāḷā
summer in Gujarati
ઉનાળો unāḷo, ગ્રીષ્મ grīṣma, નિદાઘ nidāgh
summer in Odia
ଖରାଦିନ kharādina
summer in Sanskrit
ऊष्ण ūṣṇa, ग्रीष्म grīṣma
summer in Sinhala
ගිම්හාන ඍතුව gimhāna r̥tuwa
summer in Assamese
গ্ৰীষ্মকাল grismokal, গ্ৰীষ্ম grismo, গৰমদিন gormodin
summer in Nepali
गमीर gamīra
summer in Pashto
اوړۍ ōṛəy
summer in Tagalog
tag-init, tag-araw
summer in Arabic
صَيْف ṣayf, صيف ṣef
summer in Malay
musim panas
summer in Indonesian
musim panas
summer in Persian
تَابِسْتَان tābistān, تابِسْتان tâbestân, تابِسْتون tâbestun, هامین hâmin
summer in Thai
ฤดูร้อน rʉ́-duu-rɔ́ɔn, หน้าร้อน nâa-rɔ́ɔn, คิมหันต์ kim-hǎn
summer in Vietnamese
mùa hè, mùa hạ, hạ, hè
summer in Myanmar
နွေရာသီ nwerasi, ဂိမှာန် gi.hman, ဂိမှာန gi.hmana.
Sindhi
اونهارو ūnhāro, گَرْمِي garmī
Dhivehi
ހޫނު މޫސުން hūnu mūsun̊
Kashmiri
رؠتہٕ کول ryathụ kōl, رؠتہٕ کال ryathụ kāl, گرٛیٚشِم greśim
Dzongkha
བྱཱ byā, གནམ་བྱཱ gnam byā

Examples of summer in a sentence

  • I'm going to the Gambia in the summer.
  • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out.1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
  • A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
  • Campion. ‘Humanizing.’[…]‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

All 40 example sentences with summer

Synonyms of summer

Antonyms

Forms of summer

Noun
pluralsummers
pluralSummers
alternative pronunciation-spelling (obsolete)somer
alternative form (obsolete)sommer
Verb
third-person singular presentsummers
present participlesummering
past participlesummered
pastsummered
Proper noun
pluralSummers
alternative formSimmer

Plural of summer: summers

Origin of summer

From Middle English somer, sumer, from Old English sumor m, from Proto-West Germanic *sumar m, from Proto-Germanic *sumaraz m, derived from Proto-Indo-European *semh₂- (“summer”). Cognates Cognate with Scots somer, sumer, simer, West Frisian simmer, Saterland Frisian Suumer, Dutch zomer, Low German Sommer, German Sommer, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål sommer, Swedish sommar, Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic sumar; Welsh haf, Armenian ամ (am, “year”), ամառ (amaṙ, “summer”), Sanskrit समा (sámā, “a half-year, season, weather, year”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨 (ham-), Middle Persian ḥʾmyn (hāmīn), Northern Kurdish havîn, Central Kurdish ھاوین (hawîn).

From Middle English somer, from Anglo-Norman summer, sumer, from Vulgar Latin saumārius, for Late Latin sagmārius, from Latin sagma (“sum”). Compare sumpter.

From sum + -er.

Words formed from summer

Phrases with summer

85 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with summer

Questions about summer

What does summer mean?
Summer means one of four seasons, traditionally the second, marked by the longest and typically hottest days of the year due to the inclination of the Earth and thermal lag. Typically regarded as spanning either the period between the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, or the months of June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere and the months of December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.
What is summer in Hindi?
Summer in Hindi is ग्रीष्म (grīṣma), गर्मी (garmī), गर्मियां (garmiyā̃). See Summer meaning in Hindi.
How do you use summer in a sentence?
I'm going to the Gambia in the summer.
What part of speech is summer?
Summer can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce summer?
Summer is pronounced /ˈsʌmə/ (UK).
What is the plural of summer?
The plural of summer is summers.

Words near summer in the dictionary

  1. summatory
  2. summats
  3. summe
  4. summed
  5. summed up
  6. summer
  7. summer and winter
  8. summer bar
  9. summer bars
  10. summer blues
  11. summer boarder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: summer (page history and authors); Summer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-summer.ogg.

Cite this entry: “summer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/summer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.