Plain-language definitions of the LimeSurvey terms you'll meet most often, in alphabetical order.
Access code — A unique code that lets one invited person into a closed-access survey. (Older versions called these "tokens".)
Anonymous survey — Responses aren't linked to the person who submitted them.
Answer options — The choices a participant can pick for a question.
Archived responses — When you deactivate a survey, its responses are set aside — kept, but out of the live results — and can be re-imported if you reactivate.
Array — A grid question: several subquestions sharing one answer scale.
Assessment — Scores answers so the survey can show the participant a result at the end.
Auto-save — In the new editor, changes save as you type — no Save button, just a "Saved at" time.
Base language — A survey's primary language, added first; any other languages are translated from it.
Bounced email — An invitation email that came back as undeliverable.
Canvas — The central area of the new editor where you build and edit the survey.
CAPTCHA — A "prove you're human" check you can require before someone accesses, registers for, or resumes a survey.
Central Participant Database (CPDB) — A shared pool of participants you can reuse across surveys, separate from any single survey's list.
Closed access — Only invited people with an access code can take the survey.
Cloud (LimeSurvey Cloud) — We host it for you at limesurvey.org — nothing to install.
ComfortUpdate — The paid one-click updater for self-hosted (Community Edition) installations.
Community Edition (CE) — The free version you host yourself.
Condition — A rule that shows or hides a question based on earlier answers.
Data policy (privacy policy) — Consent text a participant must agree to before starting — used for GDPR; set in the survey's data-policy settings.
Default value — A pre-filled answer shown until the participant changes it.
End screen — The last page a participant sees when they finish.
End URL — A web address the participant is sent to after finishing.
Expression Manager (ExpressionScript) — LimeSurvey's formula syntax for calculations, validation, and piping answers into text using {curly-brace} codes.
Label set — A reusable set of codes and labels you can drop into questions as answers or subquestions.
Mandatory question — A question the participant must answer before they can move on.
Multilingual survey — A survey offered in more than one language; participants pick their language, and each language is translated from the base language.
"No answer" option — An extra choice on non-mandatory questions that lets a participant deliberately leave it blank.
Open access — Anyone with the link can take the survey.
Participant — Someone invited to a closed-access survey, held in that survey's participant list.
Participant list — The invited people and their access codes for one survey.
Piping — Inserting an earlier answer, or a value, into later text using {codes}.
Plugin — An add-on that extends LimeSurvey; some ship built in.
Public registration — Letting people sign themselves up for a closed-access survey instead of you inviting each one.
Question code — A question's short internal name (variable), used in logic and exports.
Question group — A set of questions shown together, usually on one page.
Question type — The format of a question — single choice, array, text, and so on.
Quota — A cap on how many responses matching certain answers you'll accept; once it's hit, matching participants are stopped.
Randomization — Shuffling the order of questions or answer options to reduce bias.
Response — One person's submitted answers. A complete response counts as 1; a partial one as 0.5 toward your Cloud limit.
Response limit — How many responses your plan allows per period; reach it and the site locks until it resets or you upgrade.
Save & resume — Letting a participant save their progress and finish the survey later.
Statistics — LimeSurvey's built-in charts and summaries of your collected responses.
Storage — Your plan's allowance for uploaded files and exports.
Stop vs Deactivate a survey — Two ways to end a live survey: Stop / pause keeps responses available for analysis; Deactivate archives them. Either way, participants can no longer access it.
Structure — The left sidebar in the new editor showing screens, question groups and questions as a tree.
Subquestion — An item inside a question — a row of an array, or a field in a multiple-text question.
Superadmin — The top-level admin account with full control of the installation.
Survey — The whole questionnaire: its screens, question groups and questions.
Survey group — A folder for organizing surveys in your list (not the same as question groups).
Theme — The design of a survey's public pages — fonts, colors, logo. (Older versions called these "templates".)
Validation — Rules that check an answer's format before it's accepted — a valid email, a number in range, or a regex pattern.
Welcome screen — The first page a participant sees before starting.