an official periodic count of a population including such information as sex, age, occupation, etc any official count: a traffic census (in ancient Rome) a registration of the population and a property evaluation for purposes of taxation
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
cen•sus /ˈsɛnsəs/USA pronunciation
n. [countable], pl. -sus•es.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Governmentan official count of the population of a country, state, etc., with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc.:The United States has a census every ten years.
cen•sus
(sen′səs),USA pronunciation n., pl. -sus•es, v.
n.
v.t.
cen•su•al
(sen′sho̅o̅ əl),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
- Governmentan official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc.
- Antiquity(in ancient Rome) the registration of citizens and their property, for purposes of taxation.
v.t.
- Governmentto take a census of (a country, city, etc.):The entire nation is censused every 10 years.
- Latin: a listing and property assessment of citizens, equivalent. to cēns(ēre) to assess, register (citizens) in a census + -tus suffix of verb, verbal action; for -s- in place of -st- see censor
- 1605–15;
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'census' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Ahiezer
- Ahira
- Bureau of the Census
- New York
- Numbers
- POSSLQ
- Saint-Barthélemy
- Trincomalee
- army
- censor
- census taker
- census tract
- enumerator
- intercensal
- lustrum
- nosecount
- occupation groupings
- shackup
- take
- undercount