census taker
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of census taker
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As an example, “if Obama’s mother opened the door” to the census taker, baby Obama would have been entered as white.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
When the census taker drives through the colony in his truck, incongruously blaring a Monkees song, all of the other women ignore his megaphone instructions to come out and be recorded.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2023
He said some tribal members might have been reluctant to open the doors for a census taker who went door to door in Supai Village, deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2022
A relative may be excluded from a census, or the census taker may have misspelled the name.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 28, 2021
Even though Miss Ella Pearl, Miss Trotter’s mother, was as colored as my mother, she told the census taker to write ‘Indian.’
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
