summit

English Online Dictionary. What means summit‎? What does summit mean?

English

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Late Middle English somet, somete (“head, top”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman sumet and Middle French sommet (masculine), somete, sommette (“top of a thing; highest point of a mountain”) (feminine) (modern French sommet), from Old French somet, sommette, from som, sum (“highest point, summit”) + -et (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns), -ete, -ette (suffix forming diminutive feminine nouns). Som, sum are derived from Latin summum (“top, summit”), a noun use of the neuter of summus (“greatest, highest; top, uppermost”, adjective) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“over”) + *-m̥mos, *-tm̥mos (“suffix forming superlative adjectives”)). The modern English spelling was influenced by summity (“height or top of a thing; utmost degree, perfection”) (obsolete).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sŭmʹĭt, IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmɪt/
• (General American, General Australian) enPR: sŭmʹət, IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmət/
• Homophone: summat (in some dialects)
• Rhymes: -ʌmɪt
• Hyphenation: sum‧mit

Noun

summit (plural summits)

1. The topmost point or surface of a thing; the apex, the peak.

   Synonyms: acme, (obsolete) summity, zenith; see also Thesaurus:summit

   2. The highest point of a hill, mountain, or similar geographical feature.
   3. (mathematics) A vertex of a polygon or polyhedron.
   4. (nautical, rail transport, road transport) The highest point of a canal, railway, road, etc.
   5. (obsolete)
      1. (botany) Synonym of anther (“the pollen-bearing part of the stamen of a flower”) or (rare) stigma (“the sticky part of a flower that receives pollen during pollination”).
      2. (crystallography, rare) One of the two vertices of a crystal with a rhombohedral shape where the angles of each face are equal; also, the highest point of a crystal with a pyramidal or tetrahedral shape.
2. (figurative)
   1. The highest point of achievement, development, etc., that can be reached; the acme, the pinnacle.
   2. (politics)
      1. (archaic) The highest level of political leadership.
      3. (by extension) An assembly or gathering of the leaders of countries to discuss issues of international significance; also (loosely), an important or high-level gathering or meeting.

Usage notes

Colloquially, sense 1.1 is used for only the highest point of a mountain, whereas in mountaineering any point that is higher than surrounding points is a summit, such as the South Summit of Mount Everest. These are distinguished by topographic prominence as subsummits (low prominence) or independent summits (high prominence).

Derived terms

Related terms

• summity (obsolete)

Translations

Verb

summit (third-person singular simple present summits, present participle summiting or summitting, simple past and past participle summited or summitted)

1. (transitive, climbing, informal) To reach the summit (noun sense 1.1) of (a mountain).
2. (intransitive, climbing, informal) To reach the summit of a mountain.
3. (intransitive, politics) To attend a summit (noun sense 2.2.2).

Translations

Etymology 2

A variant of summat.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmɪt/, /ˈsʊ-/
• Rhymes: -ʌmɪt
• Hyphenation: sum‧mit

Pronoun

summit

1. (England, especially Lancashire, Yorkshire, informal) Alternative spelling of summat (“something”)

References

Further reading

• summit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• summit (meeting) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• summit (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• mutism

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English summit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsum.mit/, /ˈsam.mit/
• Rhymes: -ummit, -ammit
• Hyphenation: sùm‧mit

Noun

summit m (invariable)

1. summit (gathering of leaders)

   Synonyms: vertice, conferenza

References

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English summit.

Noun

summit n (plural summituri)

1. summit

Declension

Swedish

Verb

summit

1. supine of simma (strong inflection)

Anagrams

• mutism

Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from English summit.

Noun

summit

1. summit

References

• İnvestitsiä Summitı