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Added 9 October 2026

survey

/ˈsɜːveɪ/ noun

In Latin: aspicio, despecto Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about survey at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A detailed critical inspection.
Short descriptive summary (of events).
The act of looking or seeing or observing.
he tried to get a better view of it

verb

Consider in a comprehensive way.
He appraised the situation carefully before acting
Look over carefully or inspect.
He surveyed his new classmates
Keep under surveillance.
The police had been following him for weeks but they could not prove his involvement in the bombing

Origin

From Middle English surveyen, from Old French sourveoir, surveer (“to oversee”), from sour-, sur- (“over”) + veoir, veeir (“to see”), from Latin videre. See sur- and vision. Related to supervision.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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