survey
pronunciation
How to pronounce survey in British English:
UK [ˈsɜːveɪ , səˈveɪ]
How to pronounce survey in American English:
US [ˈsɜːrveɪ , sərˈveɪ]
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- Noun:
- a detailed critical inspection
- short descriptive summary (of events)
- the act of looking or seeing or observing
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- Verb:
- consider in a comprehensive way
- look over in a comprehensively, inspect
- keep under surveillance
- hold a review (of troops)
- make a survey of; for statistical purposes
- plot a map of (land)
Word Origin
- survey
- survey: [15] To survey something is etymologically to ‘oversee’ it. The word comes via Anglo-Norman surveier from medieval Latin supervidēre, a compound verb formed from the prefix super- ‘over’ and vidēre ‘see’ (source of English view, vision, etc).=> view, vision
- survey (v.)
- c. 1400, "to consider, contemplate," from Anglo-French surveier, Old French sorveoir "look (down) at, look upon, notice; guard, watch," from Medieval Latin supervidere "oversee" (see supervise). Meaning "examine the condition of" is from mid-15c. That of "to take linear measurements of a tract of ground" is recorded from 1540s. Related: Surveyed; surveying; surveyance (late 14c.).
- survey (n.)
- late 15c., survei, "oversight, supervision," from survey (v.). The meaning "act of viewing in detail" is from 1540s. Meaning "systematic collection of data on opinions, etc." is attested from 1927.
Example
- 1. The survey was conducted last week .
- 2. What does this survey tell us ?
- 3. The new survey could change that .
- 4. University administrators deeply dislike the survey .
- 5. The survey also highlighted regional differences .