Definition

1. Noun:

   • An official who examines material for suppression: A person authorized to review publications, correspondence, or performances to suppress parts deemed obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
   • A critic who condemns: Someone who harshly criticizes or expresses strong disapproval.

2. Verb:

   • To examine and suppress material: To subject books, films, news, or other communications to official scrutiny in order to remove or prohibit anything considered objectionable.
   • To prohibit distribution: To forbid the public release or distribution of a specific publication or film.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The censor removed several pages from the manuscript before it could be published.
  • He acted as a stern censor of the city's moral standards.

• Verb:

  • The military government heavily censors all news reports from the conflict zone.
  • The film was censored for its violent content and was not shown in theaters.

Advanced Usage

• "to censor oneself": To restrict one's own speech or writing due to fear of consequences or an internal sense of propriety.
  • Writers under the regime learned to censor themselves to avoid arrest.

Variants and Related Words

• Censorship (n): The system or practice of censoring.
  • The new law led to increased censorship of the internet.
• Censorious (adj): Severely critical of others.
  • She gave him a censorious look for his rude remark.
• Censorial (adj): Relating to a censor or the duties of a censor.
  • The committee exercised its censorial powers.

Synonyms

• Noun (official): Examiner, inspector, suppressor.
• Verb: Expurgate, bowdlerize, suppress, blue-pencil.

Related Phrases

• "to impose censorship": To establish official restrictions on information.
  • The government moved to impose censorship on social media platforms.
• "to fall foul of the censor": To be judged unacceptable by a censor.
  • The documentary fell foul of the censor for its political message.

Related Idioms

• "A censor's scissors": A metaphor for the cutting or removal of content by a censor.
  • The author's original vision was lost to the censor's scissors.

Noun

1. 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
2. someone who censures or condemns

Verb

1. subject to political, religious, or moral censorship
   • This magazine is censored by the government
2. forbid the public distribution of ( a movie or a newspaper)