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Glite Dictionary
to canvass opinion

to canvass opinion

5.0
To ask a group of people for their views
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈkæn.vəs əˈpɪn.jən/
translation icon : sondear opiniones
  • Before the election, candidates often canvass opinion to understand the needs of their constituents.

Examples

  • Instead, my sources report that the USGovt wanted to canvass opinions and coordinate feedback, if not to simply float a trial balloon on a historically unprecedented idea.

    Blog text (13)

  • In canvassing opinion for this article, it was clear that no one wishes artworks to stay in South Africa at the expense of the artists' careers.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The team will canvass opinion from local residents before making any decisions on the new park.

  • To improve their services, the company decided to canvass opinion from their customers through surveys.

Synonyms

to poll
vsto canvass opinion
60 2.1

To ask people questions to find their opinion

is less formal and aims to gather a wide range of responses
to swing round the circle
vsto canvass opinion
  • UK
9.9

To go around the group to hear each person's opinion

is broader, gathering many views from the group rather than collecting each person individually

How Thorough

to survey
83 3.2
to canvass opinion
5.0
to poll
60 2.1
to ask around
  • Informal
40 2.1
to ask
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

canvass opinion infinitive
canvassed opinion past
canvassed opinion past participle
canvassing opinion present participle
canvasses opinion third person singular

Morphology

canvass + opinion

The verb 'canvass' means to solicit support or views and 'opinion' means a personal view; putting them together yields the straightforward meaning 'to solicit opinions'. This is a regular verb + object composition (even if pluralized in common usage) and follows predictable cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words can derive the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Canvass opinion may come from the old practice of going door to door with a piece of canvas or a list, asking people what they thought and writing their answers down. So, to canvass opinion means 'to go around asking people for their views' and collect their responses.