Phrase guide

poll tax

noun · 3 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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A tax determined as a uniform, fixed amount per individual.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A tax that must be paid in order to vote.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a tax of a fixed amount per person and payable as a requirement for the right to vote

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: capitation

History

Etymology

From sense poll (“head”) for “uniform tax per individual”; from sense poll (“voting place”) for “tax required to vote”.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: поголовен данък (pogoloven danǎk) — uniform tax per individual
  • Catalan: capitació — uniform tax per individual
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人頭稅 /人头税 (réntóushuì) — uniform tax per individual
  • Danish: kopskat — uniform tax per individual
  • Dutch: personele belasting — uniform tax per individual
  • Finnish: henkiraha — uniform tax per individual
  • Finnish: henkivero — uniform tax per individual
  • French: capitation — uniform tax per individual
  • German: Kopfsteuer — uniform tax per individual
  • German: Gemeindesteuer — uniform tax per individual
  • Greek: χαράτσι (charátsi) — uniform tax per individual
  • Hebrew: מַס גָּלְגֹּלֶת (mas golgólet) — uniform tax per individual
  • Hungarian: fejadó — uniform tax per individual
  • Irish: ceannairgead — uniform tax per individual
  • Italian: capitazione — uniform tax per individual
  • Polish: podatek pogłówny — uniform tax per individual
  • Portuguese: capitação — uniform tax per individual
  • Spanish: impuesto de capitación — uniform tax per individual
  • Spanish: impuesto electoral — uniform tax per individual
  • Spanish: capitación — uniform tax per individual
  • Tamil: தலைவரி (talaivari) — uniform tax per individual
  • Tamil: ஆள்வரி (āḷvari) — uniform tax per individual
  • Ottoman Turkish: خراج (harac) — uniform tax per individual
  • Vietnamese: sưu — uniform tax per individual