polling

The word “polling” means the activity of surveying opinions or running a vote. In plain terms, the act of taking a vote or survey, or (in tech) repeatedly checking for updates.

Here is “polling” used in a sentence: “Polling suggests the referendum will be close.”

“Polling” is a noun.

“Polling” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Polling” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the activity of surveying opinions or running a vote.

Polling refers to the activity of surveying opinions or running a vote to gauge sentiment, while voting is the specific act of casting a formal choice in an election. Polling can happen before an election to predict outcomes, whereas voting is the official process that determines results.

In computing, polling describes the practice of a device repeatedly checking another device to see if it has data ready, rather than waiting to be notified. This differs from event-driven approaches where the device is alerted only when data is actually available.

Polling is used because it is simple to implement, as a device just checks repeatedly at intervals rather than requiring more complex notification systems. The tradeoff is that frequent polling can waste resources compared to methods that wait for an alert.