censor
pronunciation
How to pronounce censor in British English:
UK [ˈsensə(r)]
How to pronounce censor in American English:
US [ˈsensər]
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- Noun:
- a person who is authorized to read publications or correspondence or to watch theatrical performances and suppress in whole or in part anything considered obscene or politically unacceptable
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- Verb:
- forbid the public distribution of ( a movie or a newspaper)
- subject to political, religious, or moral censorship
Word Origin
- censor (n.)
- 1530s, "Roman magistrate who took censuses and oversaw public morals," from Middle French censor and directly from Latin censor, from censere "to appraise, value, judge," from PIE root *kens- "speak solemnly, announce" (cognates: Sanskrit śamsati "recites, praises," śasa "song of praise"). There were two of them at a time in classical times, usually patricians, and they also had charge of public finances and public works. Transferred sense of "officious judge of morals and conduct" in English is from 1590s. Roman censor also had a transferred sense of "a severe judge; a rigid moralist; a censurer." Of books, plays (later films, etc.), 1640s. By the early decades of the 19c. the meaning of the English word had shaded into "state agent charged with suppression of speech or published matter deemed politically subversive." Related: Censorial.
- censor (v.)
- 1833 of media, from censor (n.). Related: Censored; censoring.
Example
- 1. Mr assange wanted to censor his own biography .
- 2. In 2007 a bill was passed to allow the government to censor access to any website .
- 3. We do not censor material .
- 4. China 's own internet filters now censor google 's searches .
- 5. That scramble to censor underscores the delicate nature of the scandal .