Dictionary

summa en · NOUN

Etymology

From Latin summa.

Meanings

1. A comprehensive summary of, or treatise on a subject, especially theology or philosophy.
2. (figuratively) A culmination or archetypal example.
   • In size, scope, and graphic ambition [the map] is a summa of the mapping art of the day, represented in paint by Vermeer. 1987, Svetlana Alpers, “The Mapping Impulse in Dutch Art”, in David Woodward, editor, Art and Cartography: Six Historical Essays, page 57:
   • The painting is a “summa” of the various trends that intertwined and developed during those crucial years of the early sixteenth century in Florence. 1993, Franca Falletti, The David and the Accademia Gallery, page 6:
   • Rockefeller Center is at once a summa of the Art Deco style, and a look ahead to the Internationalist style that dominated after World War II. 1999, Eric Nash, Manhattan Skyscrapers, page 93:

Forms

Relateds

summa cum laude