Standard Lemma guide

census

noun · verb · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈsɛnsəs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S EH1 N S AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An official count or enumeration of members of a population (not necessarily human), usually residents or citizens in a particular region, often done at regular intervals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The people being treated in a healthcare facility, clinic or program.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Count, tally.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A type of tax levied by feudal lords on peasants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, historical, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A count of the number of individual patterns within a larger pattern, most often the ash of a soup or a methuselah.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: cellular-automata, computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To conduct a census on.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To collect a census.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

a periodic count of the population

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nose count, nosecount

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: count, counting, numeration, enumeration, reckoning, tally

9

verb

Meaning 9

conduct a census

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • They censused the deer in the forest

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: count, number, enumerate, numerate

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cēnsus, from cēnseō. See censor.

Across languages

Translations

125 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: sensus — official count of members of a population
  • Arabic: تَعْدَاد اَلسُّكَّان (taʕdād as-sukkān) — official count of members of a population
  • Arabic: إِحْصَاء اَلسُّكَّان (ʔiḥṣāʔ as-sukkān) — official count of members of a population
  • Arabic: تَعْدَاد (taʕdād) — official count of members of a population
  • Armenian: մարդահամար (mardahamar) — official count of members of a population
  • Asturian: censu de población — official count of members of a population
  • Azerbaijani: siyahıyaalınma — official count of members of a population
  • Azerbaijani: əhalinin siyahıyaalınması — official count of members of a population
  • Bashkir: халыҡ иҫәбен алыу (xalıq iśəben alıw) — official count of members of a population
  • Belarusian: пе́рапіс насе́льніцтва (pjérapis nasjélʹnictva) — official count of members of a population
  • Belarusian: пе́рапіс (pjérapis) — official count of members of a population
  • Bengali: আদমশুমারি (adomśumari) — official count of members of a population
  • Bulgarian: преброяване на населението (prebrojavane na naselenieto) — official count of members of a population
  • Catalan: cens — official count of members of a population
  • Catalan: cens de població — official count of members of a population
  • Chechen: нахбагарбар (naxbagarbar) — official count of members of a population
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人口普查 (rénkǒu pǔchá) — official count of members of a population
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人口調查 /人口调查 (rénkǒu diàochá) — official count of members of a population
  • Chinese Mandarin: 戶口檢查 /户口检查 (hùkǒu jiǎnchá) — official count of members of a population
  • Cornish: niveryans — official count of members of a population
  • Czech: sčítání lidu — official count of members of a population
  • Danish: folketælling — official count of members of a population
  • Dutch: volkstelling — official count of members of a population
  • Egyptian: V13:N35-W24-G43-X1-Y1:Z2 (ṯnwt) — official count of members of a population
  • Esperanto: censo — official count of members of a population
  • Esperanto: popolnombrado — official count of members of a population
  • Estonian: rahvaloendus — official count of members of a population
  • Finnish: väestönlaskenta — official count of members of a population
  • French: recensement — official count of members of a population
  • French: recensement de la population — official count of members of a population
  • West-Frisian: folkstelling — official count of members of a population
  • Galician: censo — official count of members of a population
  • Galician: padrón — official count of members of a population
  • Georgian: აღწერა (aɣc̣era) — official count of members of a population
  • Georgian: მოსახლეობის აღწერა (mosaxleobis aɣc̣era) — official count of members of a population
  • German: Zensus — official count of members of a population
  • German: Volkszählung — official count of members of a population
  • German: Befragung — official count of members of a population
  • German: Bevölkerungszählung — official count of members of a population
  • German: Zählung — official count of members of a population
  • Greek: απογραφή (apografí) — official count of members of a population
  • Ancient Greek: ἀπογραφή (apographḗ) — official count of members of a population
  • Hebrew: מפקד אוכלוסין — official count of members of a population
  • Hindi: जनगणना (jangaṇnā) — official count of members of a population
  • Hungarian: népszámlálás — official count of members of a population
  • Icelandic: manntal — official count of members of a population
  • Ido: kontado — official count of members of a population
  • Ido: nombrizado — official count of members of a population
  • Ido: kontaduro — official count of members of a population
  • Indonesian: sensus — official count of members of a population
  • Inuktitut: ᓈᓴᐃᔩᑦ (naasaiyiit) — official count of members of a population
  • Irish: móráireamh — official count of members of a population
  • Irish: daonáireamh — official count of members of a population
  • Italian: censo — official count of members of a population
  • Italian: censimento — official count of members of a population
  • Japanese: 国勢調査 (kokusei chōsa) — official count of members of a population
  • Japanese: 人口調査 (jinkō chōsa) — official count of members of a population
  • Javanese: cacah sirah — official count of members of a population
  • Kazakh: халық санағы (xalyq sanağy) — official count of members of a population
  • Korean: 인구조사 (in'gujosa) — official count of members of a population
  • Korean: 국세조사 (guksejosa) — official count of members of a population
  • Central Kurdish: سەرژمێر (serijmêr) — official count of members of a population
  • Northern Kurdish: serjimêrî — official count of members of a population
  • Northern Kurdish: nifûsjimêrî — official count of members of a population
  • Kyrgyz: эл каттоо (el kattoo) — official count of members of a population
  • Latvian: tautas skaitīšana — official count of members of a population
  • Lithuanian: cenzas — official count of members of a population
  • Lithuanian: gyventojų surašymas — official count of members of a population
  • Macedonian: попис (popis) — official count of members of a population
  • Malay: banci — official count of members of a population
  • Māori: tatauranga — official count of members of a population
  • Māori: kautetanga — official count of members of a population
  • Marathi: जनगणना (jangaṇnā) — official count of members of a population
  • Mongolian: хүн амын тооллого (xün amyn toollogo) — official count of members of a population
  • Mongolian: хүн амын нийдэм байцаалт (xün amyn niidem bajcaalt) — official count of members of a population
  • Mongolian: ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ ᠠᠮ ᠦᠨ ᠲᠣᠭᠠᠯᠠᠯᠭ᠎ᠠ (kümün am-ün toɣalalɣ-a) — official count of members of a population
  • Mongolian: ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ ᠠᠮ ᠦᠨ ᠨᠡᠶᠢᠳᠡᠮ ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠴᠠᠭᠠᠯᠲᠠ (kümün am-ün neyidem bayičaɣalta) — official count of members of a population
  • Navajo: bílaʼashdlaʼii náóltahígíí — official count of members of a population
  • Norwegian Bokmål: folketelling — official count of members of a population
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: folketeljing — official count of members of a population
  • Pashto: سرشمېرنه — official count of members of a population
  • Persian: سرشماری — official count of members of a population
  • Polish: spis ludności — official count of members of a population
  • Polish: spis statystyczny — official count of members of a population
  • Portuguese: censo — official count of members of a population
  • Portuguese: recenseamento — official count of members of a population
  • Portuguese: censo demográfico — official count of members of a population
  • Punjabi: ਮਰਦਮਸ਼ੁਮਾਰੀ (mardamaśumārī) — official count of members of a population
  • Romanian: recensământ — official count of members of a population
  • Russian: пе́репись населе́ния (pérepisʹ naselénija) — official count of members of a population
  • Russian: пе́репись (pérepisʹ) — official count of members of a population
  • Serbo-Croatian: cenzus — official count of members of a population
  • Serbo-Croatian: popis stanovništva — official count of members of a population
  • Slovak: sčítanie ľudu — official count of members of a population
  • Slovak: sčítanie obyvateľstva — official count of members of a population
  • Slovene: popis prebivalstva — official count of members of a population
  • Spanish: censo — official count of members of a population
  • Swahili: sensa — official count of members of a population
  • Swedish: folkräkning — official count of members of a population
  • Tagalog: lahatambilang — official count of members of a population
  • Tajik: барӯйхатгирии аҳолӣ (barüyxatgiri-yi aholi) — official count of members of a population
  • Thai: สํามะโน (sǎm-má-noo) — official count of members of a population
  • Tibetan: མི་འབོར་གྲངས་བཤེར (mi 'bor grangs bsher) — official count of members of a population
  • Turkish: nüfus sayımı — official count of members of a population
  • Ukrainian: пере́пис насе́лення (perépys nasélennja) — official count of members of a population
  • Ukrainian: пере́пис (perépys) — official count of members of a population
  • Urdu: مردم شماری — official count of members of a population
  • Vietnamese: (cuộc) điều tra dân số — official count of members of a population
  • Vietnamese: (cuộc) thống kê dân số — official count of members of a population
  • Vietnamese: (cuộc) kiểm kê dân số — official count of members of a population
  • Volapük: pöpinümäd — official count of members of a population
  • Welsh: cyfrifiad — official count of members of a population
  • Yiddish: צענזוס (tsenzus) — official count of members of a population
  • Chinese Mandarin: 進行人口普查 /进行人口普查 (jìnxíng rénkǒu pǔchá) — collect a census
  • Dutch: (het volk) tellen — collect a census
  • Finnish: suorittaa väestönlaskenta — collect a census
  • German: Zensus — collect a census
  • Greek: απογράφω (apográfo) — collect a census
  • Ido: kontar — collect a census
  • Ido: nombrizar — collect a census
  • Italian: censire — collect a census
  • Turkish: nüfus sayımı — collect a census
  • Vietnamese: điều tra dân số — collect a census
  • Vietnamese: thống kê dân số — collect a census
  • Vietnamese: kiểm kê dân số — collect a census
Real reading context

census in complete knowledge articles