Meanings
- not comparableWith highest (of three degrees of) praise; as noted, as an honor, on diplomas and degrees for work that is considered to be of the highest quality.
Nancy graduated from the university summa cum laude.
1 more example
“[...] Mother remarried an architect after an amicable divorce seven years ago, lives in uptown Ewingsville, B.Y. No siblings. History and economics at Berkeley, summa cum laude. Started on the L.A. Recorder, political pieces in the Tribune and Herald. Single, lives alone, pays her bills on time.”
2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 126
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivewith highest honor; with the highest academic distinction
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsummā cum laude“with the greatest praise”
- Englishsumma cum laude
From Latin summā cum laude (“with the greatest praise”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 以最高荣誉, 以最高榮譽 /以最高荣誉
- 以最高荣誉 (yǐ zuìgāo róngyù)with highest praise
- 以最高榮譽 /以最高荣誉with highest praise
Dutch met de grootste onderscheiding
- met de grootste onderscheidingwith highest praise
Finnish laudatur, summa cum laude
- laudaturwith highest praise
- summa cum laudewith highest praise
French avec la plus grande distinction
- avec la plus grande distinctionwith highest praise
German summa cum laude, sehr gut mit Auszeichnung
- summa cum laudewith highest praise
- sehr gut mit Auszeichnungwith highest praise
Icelandic með æðsta láði, með hæstu ágætiseinkunn
- með æðsta láðiwith highest praise
- með hæstu ágætiseinkunnwith highest praise
Polish summa cum laude
- summa cum laudewith highest praise
Tagalog may sukdulang papuri
- may sukdulang papuriwith highest praise
Vietnamese xuất sắc, loại xuất sắc
- xuất sắcwith highest praise
- loại xuất sắcwith highest praise
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with summa cum laude
All rhymes →Cite this entry
summa cum laude. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summa%20cum%20laude
“summa cum laude.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summa%20cum%20laude. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “summa cum laude,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summa%20cum%20laude.
Source: summa cum laude on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.