总而言之【zǒng'éryánzhī】

总而言之 – literally "speaking of it all together" – opens the conclusion after several points have been made. It stands at the start of its clause, followed by a comma, and has the ring of a speech, an essay or a report.

At the front, not the end

English can put "all in all" at the end of a sentence. 总而言之 always comes first, before the conclusion it introduces.

• × 这个计划是可行的，总而言之 → 总而言之，这个计划是可行的

总而言之 or 总之

Both sum up. 总之 also works in casual speech as "anyway", brushing details aside – 我也说不清楚，总之他不来了. 总而言之 doesn't take that role: it announces a conclusion, so it needs a real argument or list before it. In an essay it typically opens the final paragraph.

总之 and the academic 综上所述 "from all of the above" have their own entries.