expurgate
- 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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for expurgate on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for expurgation
Historical Examples
That which seems to me much the most probable is the theory of Expurgation.
The World of HomerAndrew Lang
In the meeting which followed the expurgation of the resolutions, the organizers of the movement lost control.
'The System,' as uncovered by the San Francisco Graft ProsecutionFranklin Hichborn
Much of this theory of expurgation of the Iliad and Odyssey seems to me to rest on the assumption of .
The World of HomerAndrew Lang
It does not appear to me that this theory of expurgation, all important as it is, can be easily understood.
The World of HomerAndrew Lang
"The spirit that hated cruelty" has left the facts where it found them; there is no expurgation of them.
The World of HomerAndrew Lang
expurgate
- (tr) to amend (a book, text, etc) by removing (obscene or offensive sections)
Word Origin
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.
expurgate
To clean up, remove impurities. An expurgated edition of a book has had offensive words or descriptions changed or removed.