Phrase guide

straw poll

noun · 2 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A survey of opinion or a vote that is nonbinding, unofficial, casual, or ad hoc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • 2002: I don't think it was innocence that made me want to carry out a straw poll of women friends on the plausibility of this passage — James Meek in London Review of Books, Vol. 24 No. 22, 14 November 2002

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an unofficial vote taken to determine opinion on some issue

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: straw vote

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: poll, opinion poll, public opinion poll, canvass

History

Etymology

It may allude to a straw (thin plant stalk) held up to see in what direction the wind blows: in this case, the metaphorical wind of group opinion.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: pikakysely — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: unverbindliche Abstimmung — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: Probeabstimmung — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: inoffizielle Umfrage — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: Meinungsbild — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: Probeumfrage — unofficial survey of opinion
  • German: Blitzumfrage — unofficial survey of opinion
  • Irish: suirbhé samplála — unofficial survey of opinion
  • Polish: sondaż orientacyjny — unofficial survey of opinion
  • Spanish: encuesta — unofficial survey of opinion
  • Spanish: sondeo — unofficial survey of opinion