Meaning & use
canvasser
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person who visits people, often door to door, to ask for their votes or support for a cause or a candidate.
Grammar: Countable: a canvasser; several canvassers.
Patterns
- a canvasser for someone
- a canvasser for something
A canvasser knocked on our door to ask whom we planned to vote for.
The party trained hundreds of canvassers before the election.
She worked as a canvasser for the local environmental group.
nouncountable
A person who goes around collecting opinions or orders, for a survey or for sales.
Grammar: Countable and often used for research or sales work.
Patterns
- a canvasser for a survey
The canvasser asked residents about their shopping habits.
Market research firms hire canvassers to interview people in the street.
A canvasser selling magazine subscriptions stopped at every house.
Word forms
| plural | canvassers |
|---|
Common combinations
- political canvasser
- A political canvasser handed out leaflets at the station.
- door-to-door canvasser
- The door-to-door canvasser carried a clipboard.
- volunteer canvasser
- The volunteer canvasser spent her evenings in the neighborhood.
- party canvasser
- A party canvasser left a note about the election.
- canvasser for a charity
- The canvasser for a charity asked for monthly donations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- campaigner
- Campaigner is broader and can include people who speak, write or protest, not just visit homes.
- pollster
- Pollster measures opinion for a survey and does not try to win support.
- solicitor
- Solicitor in American English suggests asking for sales or donations, with a possibly pushy tone; in British English it means a lawyer.
- fundraiser
- Fundraiser aims only at collecting money, while a canvasser may be seeking votes or opinions.
Word family
- canvass verb
- to ask people for votes, support or opinions
- canvass noun
- a survey or visit made to gather votes or opinions
- canvassing noun
- the activity of canvassing
Commonly confused: canvasser or canvas?
canvasser vs canvas
Canvas, with one s, is a heavy cloth used for tents and paintings, while canvass with two s means to seek votes or opinions.
Practice
Which spelling is correct for the verb meaning to ask people for votes?
Choose one answer.
The verb and its noun canvasser use two s letters. Canvas with one s is the cloth, which is the tempting wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “canvasser”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.