census

noun

cen·sus | \ ˈsen(t)-səs

Definition of census

1 : a count of the population and a property evaluation in early Rome

2 : a usually complete enumeration of a population specifically : a periodic governmental enumeration of population According to the latest U.S census, 16% of the population is of Hispanic or Latino origin.

3 : count, tally a census of deer in a game refuge

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Examples of census in a Sentence

According to the latest census, the racial makeup of the town has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. a thorough census of all the grizzly bears living within the national park

Recent Examples on the Web

In a touching piece, The Greenville News reported how the town of Ware Shoals (with a population of 2,170 in the 2010 census) has come together following her death. — Lucy Diavolo, Teen Vogue, "A Small Town in South Carolina Mourns the Prom Night Death of Trinity Harrison," 11 Apr. 2019 By identifying the census block where each phone spends the night, Thasos algorithms estimate how far customers travel to malls and shoppers’ incomes. — Ryan Dezember, WSJ, "Your Smartphone’s Location Data Is Worth Big Money to Wall Street," 2 Nov. 2018 Merging the two datasets was as simple as inferring the precinct and census block of each smartphone user's home based on the location of pings logged between 1:00 am and 4:00 am in the weeks before Thanksgiving. — Robbie Gonzalez, WIRED, "The 'Thanksgiving Effect' and the Creepy Power of Phone Data," 31 May 2018 More than one in four boomers is divorced or never married, census figures show. — Paul Overberg, WSJ, "The Loneliest Generation: Americans, More Than Ever, Are Aging Alone," 11 Dec. 2018 According to census figures, there are 63 cities in Russia bigger than Saransk, but this utterly provincial town, nearly 400 miles southeast of Moscow, was the site of four matches, including invasions by fans of Peru and Colombia. — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, "Peeking Around Corners in the World Cup’s Provincial Cities," 14 July 2018 In 2016, Millville had a median household income of $91,250, $20,000 higher than the state median, census figures show. — Laura Crimaldi, BostonGlobe.com, "Welcome to Millville, where budget fight means dark streets, no trash pickup, and a growing deficit," 11 July 2018 In two decades, the city nearly doubled the 99,500 residents who lived there in 1990, census figures show. — Sarah Freishtat, Aurora Beacon-News, "Aurora in 2018: With population no longer booming, city looks to downtown for future growth," 6 July 2018 But the census figures also showed the county is growing in some ways. — chicagotribune.com, "Millennials are largest age group in Cook County, census shows, but will they stay?," 21 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'census.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

28 Apr 2019

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The first known use of census was in 1634

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More Definitions for census

census

noun

English Language Learners Definition of census

: the official process of counting the number of people in a country, city, or town and collecting information about them

See the full definition for census in the English Language Learners Dictionary

census

noun

cen·sus | \ ˈsen-səs

Kids Definition of census

: a count of the number of people in a country, city, or town

census

noun

cen·sus

Legal Definition of census

: a usually complete count of a population (as of a state) especially : a periodic governmental count of a population that usually includes social and economic information (as occupations, ages, and incomes)