diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6ad4f4b1a..f52612340 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ Deprecated
 Features added
 --------------
 
+* #9494, #9456: html search: Add a config variable
+  :confval:`html_show_search_summary` to enable/disable the search summaries
+
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
diff --git a/EXAMPLES b/EXAMPLES
index 1f554dc2e..da41e20e2 100644
--- a/EXAMPLES
+++ b/EXAMPLES
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ Documentation using sphinx_rtd_theme
 * `Nextflow <https://www.nextflow.io/docs/latest/index.html>`__
 * `nghttp2 <https://nghttp2.org/documentation/>`__
 * `NICOS <https://forge.frm2.tum.de/nicos/doc/nicos-master/>`__ (customized)
-* `OpenFAST <https://openfast.readthedocs.io/>`__ 
+* `OpenFAST <https://openfast.readthedocs.io/>`__
 * `Panda3D <https://docs.panda3d.org/>`__ (customized)
 * `Pelican <https://docs.getpelican.com/>`__
 * `picamera <https://picamera.readthedocs.io/>`__
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ Books produced using Sphinx
 * `"Theoretical Physics Reference" <https://www.theoretical-physics.net/>`__
 * `"The Varnish Book" <https://info.varnish-software.com/the-varnish-book>`__
 
-These produced using Sphinx
+Theses produced using Sphinx
 ----------------------------
 
 * `"A Web-Based System for Comparative Analysis of OpenStreetMap Data by the Use
diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index b5bd02e4f..685273fe7 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -1351,6 +1351,13 @@ that use Sphinx's HTMLWriter class.
 
    .. versionadded:: 1.0
 
+.. confval:: html_show_search_summary
+
+   If true, the text around the keyword is shown as summary of each search result.
+   Default is ``True``.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 4.5
+
 .. confval:: html_show_sphinx
 
    If true, "Created using Sphinx" is shown in the HTML footer.  Default is
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
index da3b86b34..cc8e676e2 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
@@ -510,6 +510,7 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
             'docstitle': self.config.html_title,
             'shorttitle': self.config.html_short_title,
             'show_copyright': self.config.html_show_copyright,
+            'show_search_summary': self.config.html_show_search_summary,
             'show_sphinx': self.config.html_show_sphinx,
             'has_source': self.config.html_copy_source,
             'show_source': self.config.html_show_sourcelink,
@@ -1340,6 +1341,7 @@ def setup(app: Sphinx) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     app.add_config_value('html_file_suffix', None, 'html', [str])
     app.add_config_value('html_link_suffix', None, 'html', [str])
     app.add_config_value('html_show_copyright', True, 'html')
+    app.add_config_value('html_show_search_summary', True, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_show_sphinx', True, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_context', {}, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_output_encoding', 'utf-8', 'html')
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/documentation_options.js_t b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/documentation_options.js_t
index 8afaac2f8..5f4cca454 100644
--- a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/documentation_options.js_t
+++ b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/documentation_options.js_t
@@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = {
     LINK_SUFFIX: '{{ link_suffix }}',
     HAS_SOURCE: {{ has_source|lower }},
     SOURCELINK_SUFFIX: '{{ sourcelink_suffix }}',
-    NAVIGATION_WITH_KEYS: {{ 'true' if theme_navigation_with_keys|tobool else 'false'}}
+    NAVIGATION_WITH_KEYS: {{ 'true' if theme_navigation_with_keys|tobool else 'false'}},
+    SHOW_SEARCH_SUMMARY: {{ 'true' if show_search_summary else 'false' }}
 };
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/searchtools.js b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/searchtools.js
index 943507508..cba0817ce 100644
--- a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/searchtools.js
+++ b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/searchtools.js
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ const _displayItem = (item, highlightTerms, searchTerms) => {
   const docUrlRoot = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.URL_ROOT;
   const docFileSuffix = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.FILE_SUFFIX;
   const docLinkSuffix = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.LINK_SUFFIX;
-  const docHasSource = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.HAS_SOURCE;
+  const showSearchSummary = DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.SHOW_SEARCH_SUMMARY;
 
   const [docName, title, anchor, descr] = item;
 
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ const _displayItem = (item, highlightTerms, searchTerms) => {
   if (descr)
     listItem.appendChild(document.createElement("span")).innerText =
       " (" + descr + ")";
-  else if (docHasSource)
+  else if (showSearchSummary)
     fetch(requestUrl)
       .then((responseData) => responseData.text())
       .then((data) => {