censor

[sen-ser]

noun

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.

any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.

an adverse critic; faultfinder.

(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.

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

verb (used with object)

to examine and act upon as a censor.

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

Origin of censor

1525–35; < Latin cēnsor, equivalent to cēns(ēre) to give as one's opinion, recommend, assess + -tor -tor; -sor for *-stor by analogy with derivatives from dentals, as tōnsor barber (see tonsorial)

Related formscen·sor·a·ble, adjectivecen·so·ri·al

[sen-sawr-ee-uh l, -sohr-] /sɛnˈsɔr i əl, -ˈsoʊr-/, cen·so·ri·an, adjectivean·ti·cen·so·ri·al, adjectivenon·cen·sored, adjectiveo·ver·cen·sor, verb (used with object)pre·cen·sor, verb (used with object)re·cen·sor, verb (used with object)un·cen·sor·a·ble, adjectiveun·cen·sored, adjective

Can be confusedcenser censor censure sensor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for censoring

blacklist, excise, edit, suppress, withhold, restrict, sanitize, abridge, delete, control, examine, cut, review, repress, sterilize, restrain, expurgate, inspect, launder, cork

Examples from the Web for censoring

Contemporary Examples of censoring

Sadly, it appears the American press often doesn't need any outside help when it comes to censoring themselves.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead
Luke O’Neil
January 8, 2015
Sweden explores new frontiers in our misguided, foolish, pointless obsession with rating and censoring entertainment.
The Insane Swedish Plan to Rate Games for Sexism
Nick Gillespie
November 20, 2014
Hardly an apologist for Vienna, Byron still found these tracts too extreme and in need of censoring.
Poet and Rake, Lord Byron Was Also an Interventionist With Brains and Savvy
Michael Weiss
February 16, 2014
“They were censoring me because of my speech,” he told The Daily Beast.
The Controversial Abortion Horror Film
Marlow Stern
June 24, 2011
If that's the case, then the Barnes Noble and Borders debacle isn't just a question of censoring the transgender body.
Andrej Pejic: The Model Barnes & Noble Didn't Want You to See
Isabel Wilkinson
May 20, 2011

Historical Examples of censoring

If the State censors any letters it cannot logically stop short of censoring all.
Meccania
Owen Gregory
But the ever-helpful Register more than made up for their censoring.
Mountain
Clement Wood
The censoring had been done at Buda-Pesth in all probability.
Under Fire For Servia
Colonel James Fiske
Dave Moroka, who'd been censoring press releases, shook his head.
Border, Breed Nor Birth
Dallas McCord Reynolds
If it is accepted as proper to censor films there can be little objection to censoring comics.
Report of the Juvenile Delinquency Committee
Ronald Macmillan Algie

British Dictionary definitions for censoring

censor

noun

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

any person who controls or suppresses the behaviour of others, usually on moral grounds

(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

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

verb (tr)

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

to act as a censor of (behaviour, etc)

Derived Formscensorable, adjectivecensorial (sɛnˈsɔːrɪəl), adjective

Word Origin for censor

C16: from Latin, from cēnsēre to consider, assess

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for censoring

censor

1833 of media, from censor (n.). Related: Censored; censoring.

censor

1530s, "Roman magistrate who took censuses and oversaw public morals," from Middle French censor and directly from Latin censor, from censere "to appraise, value, judge," from PIE root *kens- "speak solemnly, announce" (cf. Sanskrit śamsati "recites, praises," śasa "song of praise").

There were two of them at a time in classical times, usually patricians, and they also had charge of public finances and public works. Transferred sense of "officious judge of morals and conduct" in English is from 1590s. Roman censor also had a transferred sense of "a severe judge; a rigid moralist; a censurer." Of books, plays (later films, etc.), 1640s. By the early decades of the 19c. the meaning of the English word had shaded into "state agent charged with suppression of speech or published matter deemed politically subversive." Related: Censorial.

censoring in Medicine

censor

[sĕn′sər]

n.

The hypothetical agent in the unconscious mind that is responsible for suppressing unconscious thoughts and wishes.