survey
Pluralsurveys
Verbsurveys, surveying, surveyed
Pluralsurveys
Formssurveys, surveying, surveyed
- 1A systematic study of a group of people, gathering their opinions, experiences, or circumstances, usually from their answers to set questions.
A national survey found broad support for the proposed transit line.
Researchers conducted a survey of voter attitudes ahead of the election.
UsageResearchers conduct, carry out or do a survey; it is a survey of a group or topic (a survey of voters).
- 2A questionnaire, poll, or similar form that people complete so their answers, about opinions or facts, can be gathered and compared.
Employees received an anonymous survey asking about workplace morale.
She designed the survey so that each question took only seconds to answer.
UsagePeople fill out, complete or take a survey, while researchers conduct one.
Similarquestionnaire, poll
- 3An examination, especially an official one, of a particular group of items in order to ascertain their condition, quantity, or quality.
The insurance company commissioned a survey of the damaged inventory.
An annual survey of the museum's collection found three paintings in need of restoration.
Similarinspection, examination, assessment, audit
- 4USsur-VAY/sɚˈveɪ/UKsuh-VAY/səˈveɪ/To investigate the opinions or experiences of people by asking them questions, as by administering a questionnaire.
The company surveys its customers after every purchase.
Pollsters survey thousands of voters in the weeks before an election.
UsageThe people surveyed can be the object, with about or on introducing the topic: survey customers about their visit.
- 5USsur-VAY/sɚˈveɪ/UKsuh-VAY/səˈveɪ/To determine the form, extent, or position of a tract of land, a coast, or a harbor by means of linear and angular measurements.
Crews will survey the route before any track is laid.
The government surveyed the territory and divided it into townships.
Similarmap, chart, measure, plot
Note
The engineer's and railway builder's verb: a route is surveyed before anything is built on it. A proposed line "had been surveyed by George Stephenson," and in 2020 Network Rail engineers were "surveying likely sites for access roads." The object is ground of any kind, whether land, coast, route or site. The noun for the work itself is the land-measuring survey.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The quoted account describes a proposed railway route surveyed by George Stephenson. en.wiktionary.org
- A 2020 report about Network Rail engineers contains the words “surveying likely sites for access roads.” en.wiktionary.org
- 6The precise measurement of an area of the earth's surface, such as a coastline or tract of land, to map its contours, extent, and position.
The survey of the coastline took two full seasons to complete.
Engineers ordered a new survey before extending the highway through the hills.
- 7USsur-VAY/sɚˈveɪ/UKsuh-VAY/səˈveɪ/To examine something in order to ascertain its condition, situation, or value.
An inspector surveyed the ship's hull before clearing it to sail.
Lenders sometimes survey a property to confirm its condition before approving a loan.
- 8USsur-VAY/sɚˈveɪ/UKsuh-VAY/səˈveɪ/To look carefully at something or over a whole area, taking it all in.
The detective surveyed the room, noting every object that seemed out of place.
From the top of the hill, we could survey the whole valley below.
UsageOften with a scene or view: survey the room, survey the scene, survey the damage.
Note
Scrutiny can fall on a person as well as on a room or landscape. In John Dryden's The Spanish Fryar (1681), a pale, speechless man "survey'd me round," looking a person up and down with a scrutinizing eye.
- 9The act of viewing or examining something as a whole; a general view.
Her opening lecture offered a broad survey of Renaissance painting.
He paused in the doorway for a quick survey of the crowded room.
Similaroverview, review, look, scan
Note
The oldest picture in the word is a look from above. John Denham's Cooper's Hill (1655 version) keeps the height: "Under his proud survey the city lies." The panoramic sense now mostly serves for broad overviews of a subject or a scene.
- 10To present an overview of a whole subject, era, or body of work, covering it broadly rather than in detail, as a textbook or course does.
The exhibition catalog surveys four decades of the photographer's work.
Her lecture series aims to survey European history from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance.
Note
A book or course that surveys a field looks across it the way someone on a hilltop surveys a valley, seeing the whole and leaving the close look for later. The same picture sits in the noun, as in a survey course or a survey of the period.
- 11A measured plan and written description of a portion of land or country.
The county clerk keeps the original survey of every parcel on file.
An 1854 survey shows the road running much closer to the river than it does today.
Note
The plan rather than the fieldwork: the measuring operation produces this, a document that records a piece of country and can be filed, compared and disputed. Because it is a record, it is countable and can disagree with another record. Neighbors may hold "conflicting surveys" of adjoining plots, and the dispute is then between papers as much as between people.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Land surveying produces documentary records that can be retained and compared. en.wikipedia.org
- Owners can possess surveys that conflict, including surveys concerning adjoining properties. fig.net
Less common meanings
- 12A professional check of a building's state by a qualified surveyor, who reports what is found, usually for a prospective buyer.
The survey revealed damp in the cellar, so the buyers knocked a few thousand pounds off their offer.
Our solicitor advised us to get a full survey because the house was over a hundred years old.
UsageYou have a survey done or get a survey before buying a home; a full survey checks the whole building.
Similarinspection
- 13USsur-VAY/sɚˈveɪ/UKsuh-VAY/səˈveɪ/To examine and formally ascertain the boundaries, tenures, rents, and value of an estate such as a manor.
Commissioners surveyed the manor, recording each tenant's holding and yearly rent.
all the Tenants Leases and Copies are surveyed
1713, Giles Jacob, The Complete Court-keeperNote
Estate administration as well as fieldwork. A steward surveying a manor examined rights, tenures and rents as much as ground. Giles Jacob's The Complete Court-keeper (1713) shows the verb taking documents as its object: "all the Tenants Leases and Copies are surveyed." That sets it apart from the measuring verb, which fixes the extent and position of land, a coast or a harbor.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Manorial surveying concerned estate administration, including boundaries, holdings and obligations; it was not confined to bookkeeping. kresenkernow.org
- Manorial surveying examined rights, tenures and rents as well as physical land. en.wiktionary.org
- Giles Jacob wrote The Complete Court-keeper, first published in 1713. lira.bc.edu
- Jacob's work contains the quoted wording, applying survey to tenants' documents. en.wiktionary.org
- The measuring sense also applies to bodies of water, including rivers, bays and harbours. oceanservice.noaa.gov
- 14In the United States, a district established for the collection of customs under a particular officer.
- 15Formerly, an auction at which a farm was let to the highest bidder on a lease for lives.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Old French sourveoir, surveer ("to oversee") joined sour-, sur- ("over") to veoir, veeir ("to see"), which goes back to Latin videre; English took it as Middle English surveyen. It is related to supervision.