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censure

[sen-sher]
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noun
  1. strong or vehement expression of disapproval: The newspapers were unanimous in their censure of the tax proposal.
  2. an official reprimand, as by a legislative body of one of its members.
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verb (used with object), cen·sured, cen·sur·ing.
  1. to criticize or reproach in a harsh or vehement manner: She is more to be pitied than censured.
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verb (used without object), cen·sured, cen·sur·ing.
  1. to give censure, adverse criticism, disapproval, or blame.
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Origin of censure

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin cēnsūra censor's office, assessment, equivalent to cēns(us) past participle of cēnsēre (see censor) + -ūra -ure
Related formscen·sur·er, nouncen·sure·less, adjectivemis·cen·sure, verb, mis·cen·sured, mis·cen·sur·ing.pre·cen·sure, verb (used with object), pre·cen·sured, pre·cen·sur·ing.pro·cen·sure, adjectivesu·per·cen·sure, nounun·cen·sured, adjectiveun·cen·sur·ing, adjective
Can be confusedblame censure condemn (see synonym study at blame)censer censor censure sensor

Synonyms

See more synonyms for censure on Thesaurus.com
1. condemnation, reproof, reproach, reprehension, rebuke, reprimand, stricture, animadversion. 3. reprove, rebuke, chide.

Synonym study

1. See abuse. 3. See blame, reprimand.

Antonyms

1–3. praise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for censured

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It censured Mrs. McKee severely for having been, so to speak, and accessory after the fact.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

  • They censured the mayor for his weakness and called for the militia.

    The Harbor

    Ernest Poole

  • Let me not be censured for mentioning such minute particulars.

    James Boswell

    William Keith Leask

  • Does he ever venture to vindicate his conduct, when censured for it?

  • Her conduct would unquestionably be criticised and censured.

    Mary Wollstonecraft

    Elizabeth Robins Pennell

British Dictionary definitions for censured

censure

noun
  1. severe disapproval; harsh criticism
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verb
  1. to criticize (someone or something) severely; condemn
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Derived Formscensurer, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Latin cēnsūra, 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 censured

censure

v.

1580s, from censure (n.) or else from French censurer, from censure (n.). Related: Censured; censuring.

Such men are so watchful to censure, that the have seldom much care to look for favourable interpretations of ambiguities, to set the general tenor of life against single failures, or to know how soon any slip of inadvertency has been expiated by sorrow and retractation; but let fly their fulminations, without mercy or prudence, against slight offences or casual temerities, against crimes never committed, or immediately repented. [Johnson, "Life of Sir Thomas Browne," 1756]
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censure

n.

late 14c., originally ecclesiastical, from Latin censura "judgment, opinion," also "office of a censor," from census, past participle of censere "appraise, estimate, assess" (see censor (n.)). General sense of "a finding of fault and an expression of condemnation" is from c.1600.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper