Meanings
summons1
plural summonses
- A call to do something, especially to come.
special summonses by the king
1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages3 more examples
He sent to summon the seditious, and to offer pardon[…]; but neither summons nor pardon was any thing regarded.
1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VIthis summons […] unfit either to dispute or disobey
1661, John Fell, The Life of the Most Learned, Reverend and Pious Dr. H. HammondIt was more than a week after his introduction to Carrados that Lieutenant Hollyer had a summons to present himself at The Turrets again. He found Mr Carlyle already there and the two friends awaiting his arrival.
1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados - lawA notice summoning someone to appear in court, as a defendant, juror or witness.
Four summonses were brought recently on behalf of St. Pancras Borough Council against the British Transport Commission in respect of the emission of smoke by locomotives standing at Camden Motive Power Depot. (The summonses were dismissed)
1955 December, “Emission of Smoke by Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 812Synonyms: subpoena
present singular third person summonses · participle present summonsing · participle past summonsed · past summonsed
summons2
- pluralplural of summon
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of summon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA notice summoning someone to appear in court, as a defendant, juror or witness.
verbTo serve someone with a summons.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
summons · noun, verb
- Vulgar Latin*summonsa
- Old Frenchsumunce
- Middle Englishsomouns“order or command to do something”
- Englishsummons
From Middle English somouns (“order or command to do something”), borrowed from Old French sumunce (modern French semonce), from Vulgar Latin *summonsa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of summoneō, summonēre (“to summon”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →summons · noun, verb
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κλῆσις, κλῆσις
- κλῆσις (klêsis)call to do something, especially to come
- κλῆσις (klêsis)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Arabic اِسْتِدْعَاء, اِسْتِدْعَاء
- اِسْتِدْعَاء (istidʕāʔ)call to do something, especially to come
- اِسْتِدْعَاء (istidʕāʔ)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Bengali সমন
- সমন (śomon)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Bulgarian при́зив, призо́вка
- при́зив (príziv)call to do something, especially to come
- призо́вка (prizóvka)notice summoning someone to appear in court
- повиква́телна (povikvátelna)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Catalan citació, compareixença
- citaciócall to do something, especially to come
- compareixençanotice summoning someone to appear in court
Chinese Mandarin 傳票 /传票, 傳訊 /传讯
- 傳票 /传票 (chuánpiào)notice summoning someone to appear in court
- 傳訊 /传讯 (chuánxùn)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Czech výzva, předvolání
- výzvacall to do something, especially to come
- předvolánínotice summoning someone to appear in court
Dutch oproep, dagvaarding
- oproepcall to do something, especially to come
- dagvaardingnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Finnish kutsu, kokouskutsu
- kutsucall to do something, especially to come
- kokouskutsucall to do something, especially to come
- haastenotice summoning someone to appear in court
- kutsunotice summoning someone to appear in court
French convocation, citation à comparaître
- convocationcall to do something, especially to come
- citation à comparaîtrenotice summoning someone to appear in court
- citationnotice summoning someone to appear in court
- convocationnotice summoning someone to appear in court
German Aufforderung, Vorladung
- Aufforderungcall to do something, especially to come
- Vorladungnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Greek κλήση
- κλήση (klísi)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Hindi सम्मन
- सम्मन (samman)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Hungarian idézés, beidézés
- idézésnotice summoning someone to appear in court
- beidézésnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Indonesian surat panggilan, surat panggilan sidang
- surat panggilancall to do something, especially to come
- surat panggilan sidangnotice summoning someone to appear in court
- surat pemanggilan sidangnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Irish toghairm, fógra
- toghairmcall to do something, especially to come
- fógranotice summoning someone to appear in court
- toghairmnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Italian convocazione, adunanza
- convocazionecall to do something, especially to come
- adunanzacall to do something, especially to come
- citazionenotice summoning someone to appear in court
Japanese 呼び出し, 召喚
- 呼び出し (yobidashi)call to do something, especially to come
- 召喚 (shōkan)notice summoning someone to appear in court
- 召喚状 (shōkanjō)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Korean 소환, 소환장
- 소환 (sohwan)notice summoning someone to appear in court
- 소환장 (sohwanjang)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Malay saman
- samannotice summoning someone to appear in court
Polish wezwanie, wezwanie
- wezwaniecall to do something, especially to come
- wezwanienotice summoning someone to appear in court
Portuguese convocação, intimação
- convocaçãocall to do something, especially to come
- intimaçãonotice summoning someone to appear in court
Russian вы́зов, пове́стка
- вы́зов (výzov)call to do something, especially to come
- пове́стка (povéstka)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Slovak predvolanie
- predvolanienotice summoning someone to appear in court
Spanish convocatoria, citación
- convocatoriacall to do something, especially to come
- citaciónnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Swahili barua ya wito
- barua ya witonotice summoning someone to appear in court
Swedish kallelse, kallelse
- kallelsecall to do something, especially to come
- kallelsenotice summoning someone to appear in court
Tamil சம்மன்
- சம்மன் (cammaṉ)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Thai หมายเรียก
- หมายเรียก (mǎai-rîiak)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Ukrainian ви́клик, за́клик
- ви́клик (výklyk)call to do something, especially to come
- за́клик (záklyk)call to do something, especially to come
- виклика́ння (vyklykánnja)call to do something, especially to come
- пові́стка (povístka)notice summoning someone to appear in court
Welsh gwŷs
- gwŷsnotice summoning someone to appear in court
Cite this entry
summons. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summons
“summons.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summons. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “summons,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/summons.
Source: summons on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.