A census is an official survey of the population of a country that is carried out in order to find out how many people live there and to obtain details of such things as people's ages and jobs.
census in British English
(ˈsɛnsəs)
nounWord forms: plural-suses
1.
an official periodic count of a population including such information as sex, age, occupation, etc
2.
any official count
a traffic census
3.
(in ancient Rome) a registration of the population and a property evaluation for purposes of taxation
Derived forms
censual (ˈcensual)
adjective
Word origin
C17: from Latin, from cēnsēre to assess
census in American English
(ˈsɛnsəs)
noun
1.
in ancient Rome, the act of counting the people and evaluating their property for taxation
2.
an official, usually periodic, count of population and recording of economic status, age, sex, etc.
Word origin
L, orig., pp. of censere, to assess: see censor
Examples of 'census' in a sentence
census
According to the last census, this is one of the fastest growing groups in the UK.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Some town records kept rough census figures that also became a part of his book.
Marius, Richard A Short Guide to Writing About History (1995)
An opportunity was missed here to explore a different history through the census records.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
The bulk of them came after the last census.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
For the first time the national census of 2001 asked a question about religious allegiance.
Christianity Today (2000)
The Archives also has battalion war diaries and census records.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
They lag behind - census data measures population composition once a decade.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
I also happen to like studying the information the census has provided over the decades.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
To dig further, search for deeds, census records and maps.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The first federal census in 1790 recorded that there were 3.9 million people in the country.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
Figures from the national census, released last week, put an intriguing spin on the trend.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It was the week of the total eclipse, so the place was like Bethlehem at census time.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The study, based on census and survey data, takes into account the impact of migration and the ages of different religious populations.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
In other languages
census
British English: census /ˈsɛnsəs/ NOUN
A census is an official survey of the population of a country.