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I want to indicate that some text has been made longer while emphasizing that no new content has been added.

Desired usages:

I need to anti-summarize this paper to reach the ten page minimum.

or

I can't believe the manager just anti-summarized my two paragraph email into a 35 minute meeting.

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  • 1
    General reference
    – mplungjan
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 6:28
  • 2
    @KateGregory It isn't easy as GR. Try it yourself. Expand is exactly what the OP does not want.
    – Kris
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 14:42
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    If this question is classed "off-topic" because the answer can be found in general references then I shall expect to see all requests for single-words in the future to be classified as such. I would also expect the same for this question and this one and this one too.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 5:03
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    The title of the question "the opposite of summarize" could mislead one into thinking that the answer is to be found in a thesaurus, but not for one moment did I do that. The question itself was detailed, had a context, and the OP had clearly done some research beforehand moreover, I wasn't convinced by jwpat7's suggestions so, I decided I to offer my answer. Method: I start off with an idea and then I check with a dictionary, if the definition matches my thinking then I post the link. This was a question that required thought. Six upvotes seem to confirm that impression too.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 5:48
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    meta: GR? No. The antonyms for summarize generally listed on thesauri are firstly, broader in their scope, and furthermore, they do not in anyway suggest that merely 'a process of summarizing is reversed' -- it is just not possible to derive that sense from any of those words by any logic.
    – Kris
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 7:13

8 Answers 8

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3

Stretched out: to extend, force, or make serve beyond the normal or proper limits; strain: to stretch the imagination; to stretch the facts; to stretch food to feed extra guests; to stretch money to keep within a budget.

I need to stretch out this paper to reach the ten page minimum.

I can't believe the manager just stretched out my two paragraph email into a 35 minute meeting.

Extend: to increase the length or duration of; lengthen;

I need to extend this paper to reach the ten page minimum.

I can't believe the manager just extended my two paragraph email into a 35 minute meeting.

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  • 3
    The antonyms generally listed on thesauri are firstly, broader in their scope, and furthermore, they do not in anyway suggest that merely 'a process of summarizing is reversed' -- it is just not possible to derive that sense from those words by any logic.
    – Kris
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 7:00
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Adding new material that only confers bulk and no substance can be described as padding. This works both in physical and figurative senses.

I need to pad this paper to reach the ten page minimum.

In your second sentence, where the form of expression changes, I don't think pad works. From least negative to most negative, you could use expand, inflate, stretch out, blow up.

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4

how about elaborate

in the sense of v. to add details to, or expand?

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3

Inflate (“To enlarge an object by pushing air (or a gas) into it; to raise or expand abnormally”) seems quite suitable. Also consider swell (“To cause to become bigger”), puff up (“To inflate with air”), and blow up (“To inflate or fill with air”).

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1

Expound on or expound upon: This comes to mind for use in a situation where one wants to add considerable detail to information provided in a summarized form.

For example, I would like to expound on the information provided in this email.

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0

I often use embellish in this situation, although it's not always appropriate as it somewhat depends on the nature of the additional content. I think it would sit better in your second example rather than the first.

If a more colloquial option is sufficient then "flesh out" may be what you're looking for.

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    +1 for words «Opposite of “summarize”», but note that neither embellish nor flesh out satisfies the “emphasizing that no new content has been added” portion of the question. Both terms suggest additional detail or explanation.
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 19:29
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The word I recommend is dilate. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (2003) gives two relevant meanings of dilate as a transitive verb:

1: archaic: to describe or set forth at length or in detail 2: to enlarge or expand in bulk or extent

And The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000) offers this intransitive meaning of dilate:

2. To speak or write at great length on a subject; expatiate

There is something a bit odd about these definitions. Evidently, you can say "I must dilate my paper to reach the required ten-page minimum length" without being archaic, but only if you mean dilate in the sense of "to enlarge or expand in bulk or extent." If you mean dilate in the sense of "to describe (or say) or set forth (or write) at (great) length or in detail" without being archaic, you have to speak intransitively: "I must dilate on the subject of my essay, to reach the required ten-page minimum length."

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-3

de-summarize

Are there techniques explored to de-summarize the text? - Quora

Revolution Analytics' R:

Desummarize the GeneRanks which were previously calculated for each node in the underlying biological network back to the corresponding probesets for the Reweighted Recursive Feature Elimination (RRFE).

The antonyms for summarize generally listed on thesauri are firstly, broader in their scope, and furthermore, they do not in anyway suggest that merely 'a process of summarizing is reversed' -- it is just not possible to derive that sense from any of those words by any logic.

The only possible unambiguous and exact-fit expression for the OP's requirement would be de-summarize as used in contexts where, technically, 'to undo/reverse a summarization' is meant.

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  • 1
    That’s a funny way to spell winterize.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 2:32

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