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expurgate

[ek-sper-geyt]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expurgate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), ex·pur·gat·ed, ex·pur·gat·ing.

to amend by removing words, passages, etc., deemed offensive or objectionable: Most children read an expurgated version of Grimms' fairy tales.
to purge or cleanse of moral offensiveness.

Origin of expurgate

1615–25; < Latin expurgātus, past participle of expurgāre to clean out. See ex-1, purge, -ate1
Related formsex·pur·ga·tion, nounex·pur·ga·tor, nounun·ex·pur·gat·ed, adjective

Synonyms for expurgate

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expurgate ON THESAURUS.COM
1. delete, excise, censor, purge, bowdlerize.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expurgation

coup, liquidation, extermination, expulsion, suppression, evacuation, distillation, murder, clarification, eradication, disposal, purification, disposition, excretion, cleaning, abolition, extirpation, ejection, catharsis, crushing

Examples from the Web for expurgation

Historical Examples of expurgation

  • That which seems to me much the most probable is the theory of Expurgation.

  • In the meeting which followed the expurgation of the resolutions, the organizers of the movement lost control.

  • Much of this theory of expurgation of the Iliad and Odyssey seems to me to rest on the assumption of .

  • It does not appear to me that this theory of expurgation, all important as it is, can be easily understood.

  • "The spirit that hated cruelty" has left the facts where it found them; there is no expurgation of them.

British Dictionary definitions for expurgation

expurgate

verb

(tr) to amend (a book, text, etc) by removing (obscene or offensive sections)
Derived Formsexpurgation, nounexpurgator, nounexpurgatory (ɛksˈpɜːɡətərɪ, -trɪ) or expurgatorial (ɛkˌspɜːɡəˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective

Word Origin for expurgate

C17: from Latin expurgāre to clean out, from purgāre to purify; see purge
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 expurgation
n.

early 15c., "a cleansing from impurity," from Latin expurgationem (nominative expurgatio), noun of action from past participle stem of expurgare "to cleanse out, purge, purify," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + purgare "to purge" (see purge). Sense of "remove objectionable passages from a literary work" first recorded in English 1610s.

expurgate

v.

1620s, back-formation from expurgation or from Latin expurgatus, past participle of expurgare "to cleanse out, purge, purify" (see expurgation). Related: Expurgated; expurgating. The earlier verb was simply expurge (late 15c.), from Middle French expurger.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
expurgation in Culture

expurgate

[(ek-spuhr-gayt)]

To clean up, remove impurities. An expurgated edition of a book has had offensive words or descriptions changed or removed.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.