censor

American  

[sen-ser] / ˈsɛn sər /

noun

• censors
  plural

1. an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.

2. any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.

3. an adverse critic; faultfinder.

4. (in the ancient Roman republic) either of two officials who kept the register or census of the citizens, awarded public contracts, and supervised manners and morals.

5. (in early Freudian dream theory) the force that represses ideas, impulses, and feelings, and prevents them from entering consciousness in their original, undisguised forms.

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verb (used with object)

• censors,
  present (3rd person singular)
• censored,
  past participle,  past
• censoring
  present participle

1. to examine and act upon as a censor.

2. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity as a censor.

censor British  

/ ˈsɛnsə, sɛnˈsɔːrɪəl /

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. psychoanal the postulated factor responsible for regulating the translation of ideas and desires from the unconscious to the conscious mind See also superego

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verb

1. to ban or cut portions of (a publication, film, letter, etc)

2. to act as a censor of (behaviour, etc)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overcensor
  verb (used with object)
• precensor
  verb (used with object)
• recensor
  verb (used with object)
• anticensorial
  adjective
• censorable
  adjective
• censorial
  adjective
• censorian
  adjective
• noncensored
  adjective
• uncensorable
  adjective
• uncensored
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• censors
  plural

Participles

• censoring
  present
• censored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• censor
  simple
• censors
  simple
• have censored
  perfect
• has censored
  perfect
• am censoring
  progressive
• are censoring
  progressive
• is censoring
  progressive
• have been censoring
  perfect progressive
• has been censoring
  perfect progressive

Past

• censored
  simple
• had censored
  perfect
• was censoring
  progressive
• were censoring
  progressive
• had been censoring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will censor
  simple
• will have censored
  perfect
• will be censoring
  progressive
• will have been censoring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of censor

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin cēnsor, from cēns(ēre) “to give as one's opinion, recommend, assess” + -tor -tor; -sor instead of expected -stor by analogy with tōnsor “barber,” and similarly derived nouns ( see tonsorial)

Explanation

A censor takes out things that are objectionable or inappropriate, like the censors at the TV networks bleeping out all the bad words in a show. To put it simply, a censor judges. Originating in the 1530’s, a censor was originally a Roman magistrate who took censuses and oversaw public morals. Censors today are hired by TV stations, publishers and the government to examine books, films and other material and strip out or flag all the amoral, offensive or otherwise bad stuff. Thankfully, in the U.S. free speech usually wins out over censorship.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

censor censors censored censoring

Baser told BBC Scotland News she was told she did not need to "censor" her set by festival staff, and apologised for "any upset".

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

U.S. officials have previously accused the bloc of using the law to censor speech, an allegation the EU denies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

It was a strange sight in Los Angeles, seeing stadium workers asking attendees to discard flags in an effort to censor the expression of people here.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

A: Being censored by others is one thing but I do not censor myself.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

Readers of Montaigne are—and always have been—sharply divided between those who think his protestations of Catholic orthodoxy were genuine, and those who think they were merely concessions to the censor.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

It was an inconvenient truth Xi’s own remarks had left out, and it circulated widely online before censors moved to contain it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Mr. Millepied’s urge to reinterpret for contemporary audiences Prokofiev’s often heavy-going score, which the composer created under the thumb of Soviet censors, seems more than understandable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026

The Internet Freedom Foundation said the compressed timeline would transform platforms into "rapid fire censors".

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026

They’re the ones who sound like out-of-touch censors trying to police popular culture.

From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2026

And I know that the censors had reported on my mail.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

In recent years it has censored its statements, avoided calls for protest and zealously guarded its marginal influence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

“Who has been censored here? Name one journalist whom we have censored? There isn’t one.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

“While data is imperfect and internet use remains heavily censored; we think the reports of restoration of connectivity implies the Iran regime expects a conclusion of the conflict is imminent,” Flight says.

From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026

All letters exchanged with Russian prisoners are read, and often censored, by the Russian authorities.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

Newspapers were censored and some were closed down, for security reasons they said.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Which brings us back to Carlson, who understands that major publishers aren’t a censoring force to be circumvented, which is why he has partnered with Skyhorse rather than trying to build something entirely from scratch.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2026

A short while later, it introduced rules censoring the input and output of generative AI models, a tightening of earlier rules that required tech companies to disclose extensive details about their algorithms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025

But that doesn’t matter: The First Amendment generally prohibits the government from censoring even false or misleading speech, with no carve-out for opinionated comedians.

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025

Hailing from small-town Australia, he became bored with censoring his work for family papers and cartooning about the weather, seeking something bigger to fit his burgeoning punk sensibilities.

From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2025

Ithepen of the Eynyen District, who has been curious about the Alien Mission since, while working for the Sarf, he was in charge of censoring the broadcasts we sent out from Erhenrang.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• abridge
• black out
• blacklist
• delete
• edit
• excise
• restrict
• sanitize
• suppress
• withhold