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Magna vs. summa

magna vs. summa: What's the difference?

Summa and magna describe the two highest levels of academic honors when they precede cum laude. Cum laude means “with honor” and refers to the first level of distinction. Magna means “great” so magna cum laude is “with great honor,” and refers to the middle level. Summa means “highest,” so summa cum laude is “with highest honor,” which is the top level.

Magna

[ mag-nuh ]
noun
  1. a town in N Utah.

summa

[ soom-uh, suhm-uh ]
noun,
  1. a comprehensive work or series of works covering, synthesizing, or summarizing a particular field or subject.
  2. a work or series of works that is a summary of all human knowledge.