censorious

American  

[sen-sawr-ee-uhs, -sohr-] / sɛnˈsɔr i əs, -ˈsoʊr- /

adjective

1. severely critical; faultfinding; carping.

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censorious British  

/ sɛnˈsɔːrɪəs /

adjective

1. harshly critical; fault-finding

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Other Word Forms

• anticensorious adjective
• anticensoriously adverb
• anticensoriousness noun
• censoriously adverb
• censoriousness noun
• noncensorious adjective
• noncensoriously adverb
• noncensoriousness noun
• overcensorious adjective
• overcensoriously adverb
• overcensoriousness noun
• uncensorious adjective
• uncensoriously adverb
• uncensoriousness noun

Etymology

Origin of censorious

1530–40; < Latin cēnsōrius of a censor, hence, austere, moral; censor, -tory ¹

Example Sentences

But the censorious effect is the same, even if deployed covertly.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

But the council’s censorious plans for the library made them “outraged, and this was enough,” said Carryl.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2025

In their TikTok video, Ben talked about how one particularly censorious editor tried to “destroy our entire side of Wikipedia” by tagging countless articles about roads and highways as non-notable topics that should be purged.

From Slate • Dec. 8, 2023

"We cannot stress enough how these censorious efforts will not end with book bans," the open letter states.

From Salon • Sep. 21, 2023

The Verdun section of Montreal was in no sense a dressy neighborhood, and I was convinced that every passer-by was giving me a second, basically censorious look.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger