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 /

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

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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)

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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

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

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

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

The negative reaction to Bettan's performance was audible on the TV broadcast, after Australian broadcaster ORF, which is hosting the show, said it would not censor protests or negative reactions to any of the contestants.

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

In the latter case, it’s a question of who do we censor in our public spaces, how we make sure our public spaces are accountable to people.

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026

She is glad it passes through a censor.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

In interviews and via his vanity cards he would, occasionally, rail against television critics, network censors, reality TV and the Television Academy, which consistently overlooked his series in the best comedy category.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

For audiences long used to polished TV comedy, the impact felt electric: humour that was not defined by censors but was messy, daring and alive in real time.

From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026

Lantern and other tools are constantly discovering new approaches or vulnerabilities, while censors such as Iran discover new ways to shut them down.

From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026

But tens of thousands of Iranians possess the satellite terminals, analysts and activists say, using them to maintain contact with like-minded citizens and share information outside the control of government firewalls and censors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Several times already he’d been ordered to the office of the army censors.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin

Mr. Bolten, who became chief of staff, put it this way: “Most people’s censored self is better than their real self. Bush’s is not.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

“In 37 years, I’ve never seen creative work get censored by theaters in this country,” Arthur Sarkissian, Global Ascension Studios’ former head of production, who was involved in the project, told Deadline at the time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

It has also been difficult to find the video on China's heavily censored internet.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 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

The pages reminded Hanako of the censored letters she had gotten from her father when he was in North Dakota.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

The lawmakers said the measure was "not about censoring a service or banning a social network; it is about no longer brandishing a threat that nobody believes in".

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The FCC says on its website that the "First Amendment and the Communications Act expressly prohibit the Commission from censoring broadcast matter".

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

Google famously exited the Chinese internet search market in 2010 after deciding it wasn’t comfortable censoring results to abide by the government’s censorship rules.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026

In nearly 500 pages of personal statements to the court, some faculty members said they’re censoring their speech and changing their courses to avoid topics that might trigger even more cuts to the university.

From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2025

“Chaplain,” he announced with magisterial rigidity, “we charge you formally with being Washington Irving and taking capricious and unlicensed liberties in censoring the letters of officers and enlisted men. Are you guilty or innocent?”

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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Related Words

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

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