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• door-to-door
  door-to-door

  adjective

  calling, selling, canvassing, etc., at each house or apartment in an area, town, or the like.
• door to door
  door to door

  adjective

  (of selling, canvassing, etc) from one house to the next

door-to-door

American  

[dawr-tuh-dawr, dohr-tuh-dohr] / ˈdɔr təˈdɔr, ˈdoʊr təˈdoʊr /

adjective

1. calling, selling, canvassing, etc., at each house or apartment in an area, town, or the like.

   a door-to-door poll.

2. sent direct from the point of pickup to the point of delivery, as a shipment or order of merchandise.

3. covering the complete route of a door-to-door shipment, delivery, etc..

   door-to-door carrying charges; door-to-door insurance.

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adverb

1. in a door-to-door manner.

door to door British  

adjective

1. (of selling, canvassing, etc) from one house to the next

2. (of journeys, deliveries, etc) direct

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door to door Idioms  

1. Calling at each house, apartment, store, etc. in an area, in order to deliver, sell, or ask for something. For example, We were asked to go door to door to collect enough signatures . [c. 1900]

2. Sent from a place of origin or pickup to a place of delivery. For example, They quoted me a price for door to door, as well as a lower one if I would pick up the goods myself . This usage is nearly always applied to a shipment of merchandise.

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Etymology

Origin of door-to-door

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

door-to-door door to door

Yocheved Ruttenberg grew up in Baltimore, went by “Kim,” and was selling roofing door-to-door in Texas when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Tens of millions were struck off the draft lists for failing to fill out forms sent to their last known address or for other paperwork issues—previous revisions relied on door-to-door verifications.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

"The government made the right decision to jump into action. But the health workers needed to go door-to-door to make people aware of the urgency."

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

County Department of Public Health conducted a door-to-door outreach survey in the neighborhood surrounding the warehouse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

Even though I’d raised some more money over the past week with my babysitting gig and doing more door-to-door donation requests, I was still a long way off from my goal.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Long before the Supreme Court handed down the landmark Obergefell ruling on equal marriage in 2015, activists were canvassing door to door, courting any lawmaker who would listen, and losing at the local level—a lot.

From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026

Officials are going door to door to tell residents how they can file claims with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to pay for water damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

As a teenager, he interned for Comcast, spending high school and college summers climbing telephone poles and selling cable subscriptions door to door.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

That narrowed Lucy's possible address down further - but they didn't want to go door to door, making enquiries.

From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026

Up and down the Barteljorisstraat, shop owners were out on the sidewalk; there was an unaccustomed neighborhood feel as advice, rolls of adhesive, and tales of the night’s terror passed from door to door.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom