bowdlerize

Meaning

To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.

Synonyms

expurgate

bowdlerise

shorten

castrate

purge

sublimate

black out

be puristic

censor

chasten

lustrate

Translations

expurgar

kuisen

expurger

säubern

castificare

zensieren

bereinigen

verballhornen

εξαγνίζω

censurer

raccourcir

purgare

espurgare

censureren

abreviar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbaʊd.ləˌɹaɪz/

Etymology

From Bowdler + -ize; named after English physician Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825). In 1818, he published a censored version of William Shakespeare (The Family Shakespeare), expurgating “those words and expressions […] which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.”