Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense censors, present participle censoring, past tense, past participle censored
1. verb
If someone in authority censors letters or the media, they officially examine them and cut out any information that is regarded as secret.
The military-backed government has heavily censored the news. [VERB noun]
2. countable noun
A censor is a person who has been officially appointed to examine letters or the media and to cut out any parts that are regarded as secret.
The report was cleared by the American military censors.
3. verb
If someone in authority censors a book, play, or film, they officially examine it and cut out any parts that are consideredto be immoral or inappropriate.
She insisted that if anything were censored, the magazine would be published abroad. [VERB noun]
Certain TV companies tend to censor bad language in feature films. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: expurgate, cut, blue-pencil, bowdlerize More Synonyms of censor
4. countable noun
A censor is a person who has been officially appointed to examine plays, films, and booksand to cut out any parts that are considered to be immoral.
...the British Board of Film Censors.
censor in British English
(ˈsɛnsə)
noun
1.
a person authorized to examine publications, theatrical presentations, films, letters, etc, in order to suppress in whole or part those considered obscene, politically unacceptable, etc
2.
any person who controls or suppresses the behaviour of others, usually on moral grounds
3.
(in republican Rome) either of two senior magistrates elected to keep the list of citizens up to date, control aspects of public finance, and supervise public morals
4. psychoanalysis
the postulated factor responsible for regulating the translation of ideas and desires from the unconscious to the conscious mind
See also superego
verb(transitive)
5.
to ban or cut portions of (a publication, film, letter, etc)
6.
to act as a censor of (behaviour, etc)
Derived forms
censorable (ˈcensorable)
adjective
censorial (sɛnˈsɔːrɪəl)
adjective
Word origin
C16: from Latin, from cēnsēre to consider, assess
censor in American English
(ˈsɛnsər)
noun
1.
one of two magistrates in ancient Rome appointed to take the census and, later, to supervise public morals
2.
an official with the power to examine publications, movies, television programs, etc. and to remove or prohibit anything considered obscene, libelous, politically objectionable, etc.
3.
an official in time of war who reads publications, mail, etc. to remove information that might be useful to the enemy
4.
in earlier psychoanalytic theory, and still popularly, a part of the unconscious that serves as the agent of censorship
verb transitive
5.
to subject (a book, writer, etc.) to censorship
Derived forms
censorial (cenˈsorial) (sɛnˈsɔriəl)
adjective
Word origin
L < censere, to tax, value, judge < IE base *ens, speak solemnly, announce > Sans ṡáṁsa, praise, prayer of praise
Examples of 'censor' in a sentence
censor
They exchanged letters, but these were censored by the government.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
In a lurid incident shortly before his death, he ran into trouble with government censors.
Smithsonian Mag (2017)
Should film censors get tougher with their ratings?
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
BRITAIN'S film censor is suggesting that it could provide the first classifications for content of the internet.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Letters back from the trenches were not so heavily censored.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Nor did he censor his reporting in deference to the Palace.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Many wrote scathing criticism of their superiors, only to see their reports censored and rewritten.
The Sun (2012)
Not surprisingly, government censors cut out whole scenes.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The Government has censored the documents to hide the identity of individuals from mobile businesses.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Government censors blocked Nobel prize reports from websites.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Should the show be banned, censored or more carefully edited?
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Outrage at the film's content led it to be banned by the censors.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
But trying to protect sponsors by arresting people who turn up in the wrong T-shirt is like a government trying to censor the internet.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
A couple of my other films have been censored, but that was a long time ago.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
A volume planned for publication in 1949 was suppressed by the censors.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Service postcards provided basic information, allowed by the military censors, for soldiers to tick.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In China, the censor has already cut the movie to just over two hours.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The evidence put to them is censored, controlled, delivered after frequent and unwelcome interruptions and often without being understood.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In other languages
censor
British English: censor VERB
If someone in authority censors letters or the media, they officially examine them and cut out any information that is regarded as secret.
The government has heavily censored the news.
American English: censor
Brazilian Portuguese: censurar
Chinese: 审查 >信件或媒体
European Spanish: censurar
French: censurer
German: zensieren
Italian: censurare
Japanese: 検閲する
Korean: 검열하다
European Portuguese: censurar
Latin American Spanish: censurar
British English: censor NOUN
A censor is a person who has been officially appointed to examine letters or the media and to cut out any parts that are regarded as secret.
The report was cleared by the military censors.
American English: censor
Brazilian Portuguese: censor
Chinese: 审查员 >信件或媒体
European Spanish: censor
French: censeur
German: Zensor
Italian: censore
Japanese: 検閲官
Korean: 검열관
European Portuguese: censor
Latin American Spanish: censor
Chinese translation of 'censor'
censor
(ˈsɛnsəʳ)
vt
[newspaper report, book, play etc]审(審)查 (shěnchá)
n(c)
审(審)查员(員) (shěncháyuán) (名, míng)
(verb)
Definition
to ban or cut portions of (a film, letter, or publication)
Court officials have reserved the right to censor proceedings.
Synonyms
expurgate
The work was heavily expurgated for its second edition.
cut
The audience wants more music and less drama, so we've cut some scenes.
blue-pencil
bowdlerize
She had ceased to bowdlerize her storytelling.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of bowdlerize
Definition
to remove passages or words regarded as indecent from (a play, novel, etc.)
She had ceased to bowdlerize her storytelling.
Synonyms
censor,
cut,
clean up,
blue-pencil,
expurgate,
sanitize
in the sense of cut
The audience wants more music and less drama, so we've cut some scenes.