Meaning of survey in English

survey

noun [ C ]

/ˈsɜː.veɪ/ us

/ˈsɝː.veɪ/

survey noun [C] (QUESTIONS)

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an examination of opinions, behaviour, etc., made by asking people questions:

A recent survey found/revealed/showed that 58 percent of people did not know where their heart is.

to conduct/carry out/do a survey

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The survey is only concerned with women of childbearing age.
In the survey politicians came out overwhelmingly in favour of capital punishment.
We are conducting a survey to find out what our customers think of their local bus service.
The survey found no correspondence between crime and unemployment rates.
The findings of this survey are demonstrative of the need for further research.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Questioning people & asking questions in general

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survey noun [C] (EXAMINING)

the measuring and recording of the details of an area of land:

a geological survey

a description of the whole of a subject:

His new book is a survey of European theatre in the 19th century.

(US and Australian English inspection)

an examination of the structure of a building by a specially trained person

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Measuring & weighing

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Maps & map-making

Defining & explaining

Analysing and evaluating

survey

verb

survey verb (LOOK AT)

C1 [ T ] formal uk

/səˈveɪ/ us

/ˈsɝː.veɪ/

to look at or examine all of something, especially carefully:

He got out of the car to survey the damage.

She has written a book which surveys (= describes in detail) the history of feminism.

Synonyms

check  (EXAMINE)
check something out (EXAMINE) informal
examine (LOOK AT CAREFULLY)
inspect
peruse formal
scan  (LOOK)
study  (EXAMINE)

[ T ] uk

/səˈveɪ/ us

/ˈsɝː.veɪ/

to measure an area of land, and to record the details of it, especially on a map:

Before the new railway was built, its route was carefully surveyed.

[ T often passive ] UK uk

/səˈveɪ/ us

/ˈsɝː.veɪ/

(US and Australian English inspect)

If a building is surveyed, it is examined carefully by a specially trained person, in order to discover if there is anything wrong with its structure.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Using the eyes

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Measuring & weighing

Maps & map-making

Analysing and evaluating

survey verb (QUESTIONS)

C1 [ T ] uk

/ˈsɜː.veɪ/ us

/ˈsɝː.veɪ/

to ask people questions in order to find out about their opinions or behaviour:

The researchers surveyed the attitudes of 2,500 college students.

Many of the listeners surveyed said that they were not satisfied with the station's programming.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Questioning people & asking questions in general

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Idiom

lord/master/mistress/king/queen of all you survey

(Definition of survey from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

survey | American Dictionary

survey

noun [ C ]

/ˈsɜr·veɪ/

survey noun [C] (QUESTIONS)

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a set of questions people are asked to gather information or find out their opinions, or the information gathered by asking many people the same questions:

A recent survey found that working women want better child care and flexible hours.

survey noun [C] (MEASURING)

the measuring and recording of the details of an area of land:

Geological surveys are an important tool used in locating oil reserves.

survey noun [C] (EXAMINING)

a description of the whole of a subject:

His new book is a survey of contemporary Latin American architecture.

survey

verb [ T ]

/sərˈveɪ, ˈsɜr·veɪ/

survey verb [T] (LOOK AT)

to look at or examine all of something:

After we’d finished painting the kitchen, we stood back and surveyed our work.

survey verb [T] (MEASURE)

to measure and describe the details of an area of land:

The property must be surveyed before you can buy it.

survey verb [T] (ASK QUESTIONS)

to ask people questions in order to find out about their opinions and behavior:

Researchers surveyed the political opinions of 2000 college students.

(Definition of survey from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

survey | Business English

survey

noun [ C ]

/ˈsɜːveɪ/ us

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MARKETING

an examination of people's opinions, behaviour, etc. made, for example, by asking them questions:

a survey finds/reveals/shows A survey of 584 companies has found that there is no relationship between a company's sales incentive plan structure and its gain or loss in market share.

conduct/carry out/do a survey We should conduct a survey to find out what our customers really want.

PROPERTY

the measuring and recording of the details of an area of land:

A detailed survey of the building plot has already been carried out.

PROPERTY UK

(US inspection)

an examination of the structure of a building by a specially trained person to check what condition it is in:

We should schedule an independent survey of the property before we agree to buy it.

The survey revealed a number of problems that will have to be repaired.

survey

verb [ T ]

/səˈveɪ/ us

MARKETING

to ask people questions in order to find out about their opinions or behaviour:

The researchers surveyed the attitudes of 2,500 night shift workers.

to look at or examine all of something in detail:

She has written a book which surveys the history of the PR industry.

PROPERTY

to measure an area of land and to record the details of it:

The land will have to be surveyed in detail before the building project can begin.

PROPERTY UK

(US inspect)

when a building is surveyed, it is examined carefully by a specially trained person, to see what condition it is in:

We had the house surveyed.

(Definition of survey from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of survey

survey

But the evidence of surveys suggests that employees frequently do not exercise much choice at all over their health plans.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Both authors advocate an eclectic mix of quantitative survey and qualitative interviews for the study of current rural labour transformations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

More in-depth, qualitative interviews may be more useful than surveys, especially to examine attitudes toward presumed consent as a term.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The following text gives a survey of the qualitative and quantitative patterns in the error corpus.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Given the qualitative nature of the survey, the results were interpreted and put in relation to existing estimates in the literature.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He surveys the sacred meals against a carefully assembled background of ordinary meal-taking and the general philosophy of food in each region.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Individual ocelots were photographed as many as 17 times during the cumulative 2-y survey period, though many were recorded only once.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Eighty-three of the 91 (91%) surveyed oncologists returned the questionnaire.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This is a large professional group in primary care and was not adequately represented in the questionnaire survey.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A second relevant concern here is whether we can treat the 901 respondents in our sample as a random subset of all survey participants.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Consequently, elderly participants were not recruited as the survey content would have been irrelevant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The core of the material is presented in sufficient detail that the survey may serve as a text for teaching constrained global optimization.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

After an introductory chapter, they survey the concept in a concise, general and convincing way, which could readily be transferred to almost any natural resource.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For studies such as surveys of farmer practice or multidisciplinary trials involving whole systems, plots are unlikely to be relevant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such examples from the linguistic literature could be multiplied, but a survey of different types of incoherence may only increase the confusion.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with survey

survey

These are words often used in combination with survey.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

annual survey

An annual survey started in 1971.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

archaeological survey

They may give a casual visitor an impression of the scope of the factory operation, but the details needed by an archaeological survey have gone.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

brief survey

As has been seen in this brief survey, these categories acknowledge some, but not all, of the wonderful variety of material definitions the specification yields.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with survey

What is the pronunciation of survey?

Translations of survey

in Chinese (Traditional)

問題, 調查, 測量…

Meaning of survey in English

survey noun [C] (QUESTIONS)

survey noun [C] (EXAMINING)

survey verb (LOOK AT)

survey verb (QUESTIONS)

Idiom

survey | American Dictionary

survey noun [C] (QUESTIONS)

survey noun [C] (MEASURING)

survey noun [C] (EXAMINING)

survey verb [T] (LOOK AT)

survey verb [T] (MEASURE)

survey verb [T] (ASK QUESTIONS)

survey | Business English

Examples of survey

Collocations with survey

survey

Translations of survey

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