censor

Alternative forms

• censour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin cēnsor (“magistrate, critic”), from censere (“to tax, assess, value, judge, consider, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.sə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.sɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: censer, sensor
• Rhymes: -ɛnsə(ɹ)

Noun

censor (plural censors)

1. (historical) A Roman magistrate, originally a census administrator, by Classical times a high judge of public behavior and morality.

   The Ancient censors were part of the cursus honorum, a series of public offices held during a political career, like consuls and praetors.

2. An official responsible for the removal of objectionable or sensitive content.

   The headmaster was an even stricter censor of his boarding pupils' correspondence than the enemy censors had been of his own when the country was occupied.

3. One who censures or condemns.
4. (psychology) A hypothetical subconscious agency which filters unacceptable thought before it reaches the conscious.

Verb

censor (third-person singular simple present censors, present participle censoring, simple past and past participle censored)

1. (transitive) To review in order to remove objectionable content from correspondence or public media, either by legal criteria or with discretionary powers.

   The man responsible for censoring films has seen some things in his time.

2. (transitive) To remove objectionable content.

   Occupying powers typically censor anything reeking of resistance

See also

• decensor
• expurgate

Further reading

• censor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• censor in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• Cerons, Cosner, Crones, crones, crosne, necros, oncers, recons, scorne, sercon

Pronunciation

• Homophone: sensor

Noun

censor m (plural censors, feminine censora)

1. censor

Etymology

From Latin censor.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

censor m (plural censors, diminutive censortje n)

1. censor

Etymology

From cēnseō (“I assess, value, judge, tax, etc.”) +‎ -tor (agentive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈken.sor/, [ˈkẽː.sɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃen.sor/

Noun

cēnsor m (genitive cēnsōris); third declension

1. censor
2. provincial magistrate with similar duties.
3. a critic, especially a severe one of morals and society

References

• censor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• censor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• censor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• censor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the censors hold a census of the people: censores censent populum
    
• censor in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• censor in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Noun

censōr m

1. censor

Noun

censor m (plural censores, feminine censora, feminine plural censoras)

1. (historical) censor (Roman magistrate)
2. censor (official responsible for removal of objectionable or sensitive content)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin censor, censoris.

Adjective

censor (feminine singular censora, masculine plural censores, feminine plural censoras)

1. censoring

Noun

censor m (plural censores, feminine censora, feminine plural censoras)

1. censor

Noun

censor c

1. (classical studies) censor; a Roman census administrator
2. censor; an official responsible for the removal of objectionable or sensitive content