noun
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a policy or programme of censoring
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the act or system of censoring
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psychoanal the activity of the mind in regulating impulses, etc, from the unconscious so that they are modified before reaching the conscious mind
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of censorship
Explanation
Censorship blocks something from being read, heard, or seen. If you've ever heard the sound of bleeping when someone is speaking on television, that's censorship. To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience. There is also such a thing as self-censorship, which is when you refrain from saying certain things — or possibly re-wording them — depending on who is listening.
Vocabulary lists containing censorship
List 5
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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World War I
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"At the same time, maybe they need to loosen their censorship a bit in order to have more different kinds of movie and less restriction creating-wise," he added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Bypassing censorship Some jurisdictions are more restrictive than others, with many heavily censoring Internet access.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
Wu, a professor at Columbia University in New York, who was involved in the Obama and Biden administrations, called it "censorship".
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
“Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven,” Vega wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Like the cosmic censorship conjecture, it has not been proved but there are reasons to believe it is true.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
