diff --git a/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py b/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 import unittest
 from test import support
 
-from textwrap import TextWrapper, wrap, fill, dedent, indent
+from textwrap import TextWrapper, wrap, fill, dedent, indent, summarize
 
 
 class BaseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@
                          "\nexpected %r\n"
                          "but got  %r" % (expect, result))
 
+    def check_summarize(self, text, width, expect, **kwargs):
+        result = summarize(text, width, **kwargs)
+        self.check(result, expect)
+
 
 class WrapTestCase(BaseTestCase):
 
@@ -777,12 +781,51 @@
             self.assertEqual(indent(text, prefix, predicate), expect)
 
 
+class SummarizeTestCase(BaseTestCase):
+
+    def test_simple(self):
+        # Simple case: just words, spaces, and a bit of punctuation
+        text = "Hello there, how are you this fine day? I'm glad to hear it!"
+
+        self.check_summarize(text, 18, "Hello there, (...)")
+        self.check_summarize(text, len(text), text)
+        self.check_summarize(text, len(text) - 1,
+            "Hello there, how are you this fine day? "
+            "I'm glad to (...)")
+
+    def test_placeholder(self):
+        text = "Hello there, how are you this fine day? I'm glad to hear it!"
+
+        self.check_summarize(text, 18, "Hello there, $$", placeholder='$$')
+        self.check_summarize(text, len(text), text, placeholder='$$')
+        self.check_summarize(text, len(text) - 1,
+            "Hello there, how are you this fine day? "
+            "I'm glad to hear $$", placeholder='$$')
+
+    def test_empty_string(self):
+        self.check_summarize("", 6, "")
+
+    def test_whitespace(self):
+        # Whitespace collapsing
+        text = """
+            This is a  paragraph that  already has
+            line breaks and \t tabs too."""
+        self.check_summarize(text, 62,
+                             "This is a paragraph that already has line "
+                             "breaks and tabs too.")
+        self.check_summarize(text, 61,
+                             "This is a paragraph that already has line "
+                             "breaks and (...)")
+
+    def test_width_too_small_for_placeholder(self):
+        wrapper = TextWrapper(width=8)
+        wrapper.summarize("x" * 20, placeholder="(......)")
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            wrapper.summarize("x" * 20, placeholder="(.......)")
+
+
 def test_main():
-    support.run_unittest(WrapTestCase,
-                              LongWordTestCase,
-                              IndentTestCases,
-                              DedentTestCase,
-                              IndentTestCase)
+    support.run_unittest(__name__)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test_main()
diff --git a/Lib/textwrap.py b/Lib/textwrap.py
--- a/Lib/textwrap.py
+++ b/Lib/textwrap.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 # since 0xa0 is not in range(128).
 _whitespace = '\t\n\x0b\x0c\r '
 
+_default_placeholder = '(...)'
+
 class TextWrapper:
     """
     Object for wrapping/filling text.  The public interface consists of
@@ -277,6 +279,9 @@
 
         return lines
 
+    def _chunkize(self, text):
+        text = self._munge_whitespace(text)
+        return self._split(text)
 
     # -- Public interface ----------------------------------------------
 
@@ -289,8 +294,7 @@
         and all other whitespace characters (including newline) are
         converted to space.
         """
-        text = self._munge_whitespace(text)
-        chunks = self._split(text)
+        chunks = self._chunkize(text)
         if self.fix_sentence_endings:
             self._fix_sentence_endings(chunks)
         return self._wrap_chunks(chunks)
@@ -304,6 +308,32 @@
         """
         return "\n".join(self.wrap(text))
 
+    def summarize(self, text, *, placeholder=_default_placeholder):
+        max_length = self.width
+        if max_length < len(placeholder):
+            raise ValueError("placeholder too large for max width")
+        sep = ' '
+        sep_len = len(sep)
+        parts = []
+        cur_len = 0
+        chunks = self._chunkize(text)
+        for chunk in chunks:
+            if not chunk.strip():
+                continue
+            chunk_len = len(chunk) + sep_len if parts else len(chunk)
+            if cur_len + chunk_len > max_length:
+                break
+            parts.append(chunk)
+            cur_len += chunk_len
+        else:
+            # No truncation necessary
+            return sep.join(parts)
+        max_truncated_length = max_length - len(placeholder) - sep_len
+        while parts and cur_len > max_truncated_length:
+            last = parts.pop()
+            cur_len -= len(last) + sep_len
+        return sep.join(parts + [placeholder])
+
 
 # -- Convenience interface ---------------------------------------------
 
@@ -332,6 +362,21 @@
     w = TextWrapper(width=width, **kwargs)
     return w.fill(text)
 
+def summarize(text, width, *, placeholder=_default_placeholder, **kwargs):
+    """Truncate and collapse the given text to fit in the given width.
+
+    The text first has its whitespace collapsed.  If it then fits in
+    the *width*, it is returned unchanged.  Otherwise, as many words
+    as possible are joined and then the placeholder is appended::
+
+        >>> textwrap.summarize("Hello  world!", width=12)
+        'Hello world!'
+        >>> textwrap.summarize("Hello  world!", width=11)
+        'Hello (...)'
+    """
+    w = TextWrapper(width=width, **kwargs)
+    return w.summarize(text, placeholder=placeholder)
+
 
 # -- Loosely related functionality -------------------------------------