censure

Etymology

1350–1400 Middle English, from Old French, from Latin censūra (“censor's office or assessment”), from censere (“to tax, assess, value, judge, consider, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.sjə/, /ˈsɛn.ʃə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.ʃɚ/

Noun

censure (countable and uncountable, plural censures)

1. The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
   • Macaulay

     Both the censure and the praise were merited.

2. An official reprimand.
3. Judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand; condemnatory judgment.
   • Bishop Burnet

     excommunication or other censure of the church

4. (obsolete) Judgment either favorable or unfavorable; opinion.
   • William Shakespeare Hamlet, Act I, scene III:

     Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Verb

censure (third-person singular simple present censures, present participle censuring, simple past and past participle censured)

1. To criticize harshly.
   • Shakespeare

     I may be censured that nature thus gives way to loyalty.

2. To formally rebuke.
3. (obsolete) To form or express a judgment in regard to; to estimate; to judge.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     Should I say more, you might well censure me a flatterer.

Related terms

• censor
• censorial
• censorious
• censorship
• census

References

• “censure” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “censure” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "censure" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Anagrams

• encurse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.syʁ/

Noun

censure f (plural censures)

1. censorship

Verb

censure

1. first-person singular present indicative of censurer
2. third-person singular present indicative of censurer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of censurer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of censurer
5. second-person singular imperative of censurer

Further reading

• “censure” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• cénures

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ure

Noun

censure f

1. plural of censura

Participle

cēnsūre

1. vocative masculine singular of cēnsūrus

Verb

censure

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of censurar
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of censurar
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of censurar
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of censurar

Verb

censure

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of censurar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of censurar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of censurar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of censurar.