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censor

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: censôr

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The noun is borrowed from Latin cēnsor ("magistrate; critic"), from cēnseō ("to give an opinion, judge; to assess, reckon; to decree, determine")[1] [2] + -sor (variant of -tor (suffix forming masculine agent nouns )). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱens- ("to announce, proclaim; to put in order"). The English word is cognate with Late Middle English sensour , Proto-Iranian *cánhati ("to declare; to explain"), Sanskrit शंसति (śaṃsati, "to declare").

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun

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censor (plural censors )

  1. (Ancient Rome , historical ) One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour and morality.
    Synonyms: censorian , (both obsolete) censurer
    The Ancient Roman censors were part of the cursus honorum, a series of public offices held during a political career, like consuls and praetors.
    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, "The Tragedy of Coriolanus", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 14, column 1:
      And Nobly nam'd, so twice being Censor, / Was his great Ancestor.
    • 1685, William Howel[l], "The History of the Reformation of Religion by Constantine ", in An Institution of General History, or The History of Ecclesiastical Affairs of the World. [...], London: [...] Miles Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph 17, page 7:
      Neither [the Segetes Lustrantur and the Oves Lustrantur] are in this place, to be understood the Lustra, which were wont to be Celebrated at Rome by the Censors, after the Census of Citizens was made by a Sacrifice of the Suovetaurilia; for they had ceased long ago, as appeareth by what Censorinus writeth in his Book de Die Natali; at which time the Office of Censors also ceased, which some endeavoured, though in vain, to re-establish.
    • 1696, Basil Kennett, "Of the Censors", in Romæ Antiquæ Notitia: Or, The Antiquities of Rome. [...], London: [...] A. Swall and T. Child, [...], →OCLC, part II, book III (Of the Civil Government of the Romans), pages 110–111:
      [page 110] [Justus] Lipsius divides the Duty of the Censors into two Heads; the Survey of the People, and the Censure of Manners. [...] With respect to the latter part of their Office, they had the power to punish an Immorality in any Person, of what Order soever. [...] [page 111] 'Tis very remarkable, that if one of the Censors died, no body was substituted in his room 'till the next Lustrum, and his Partner was oblig'd to quit his Office; because the Death of a Censor happen'd just before the sacking of Rome by the Gauls, and was ever after accounted highly ominous and unfortunate.
    • 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter XLIX, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , volume V, London: [...] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, [...], →OCLC, pages 168–169:
      At the head of his victorious legions, in his reign over the sea and land, from the Nile and Euphrates to the Atlantic ocean, Augustus proclaimed himself the servant of the state and the equal of his fellow-citizens. The conqueror of Rome and her provinces assumed the popular and legal form of a censor, a consul, and a tribune.
    • 1876, William Ramsay, "Magistrates of the Regal and Republican Periods and under the Early Emperors", in A Manual of Roman Antiquities, 10th edition, London: Charles Griffin and Company [...], →OCLC, page 165:
      The Censors were always two in number, and were originally chosen from the Patricians exclusively. In B.C. 351, we find for the first time a Plebeian Censor, G[aius] Marcius Rutilus. In B.C. 339, a Lex Publilia was passed by Q[uintus] Publilius Philo when Dictator, enacting that at least one of the Censors must be a Plebeian.
  2. (Ancient China, historical ) A high-ranking official who was responsible for the supervision of subordinate government officials.
  3. An official responsible for the removal or suppression of objectionable material (for example, if obscene or likely to incite violence) or sensitive content in books, films, correspondence, and other media.
    Synonym: (obsolete) censurer
    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.
    • 1917, Sapper [pseudonym; Herman Cyril McNeile], "The Seed", in No Man’s Land, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, part 3 (Seed Time), page 260:
      There being a censor of public morals I will refrain from giving that worthy warrior's reply when he had digested this astounding piece of information; it is sufficient to say that it did not encourage further conversation, nor did it soothe our hero's nerves.
  4. (education ) A college or university official whose duties vary depending on the institution.
    • 1691, [Anthony Wood], "THEOPHILUS HIGGONS", in Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. [...], volume II (Completing the Whole Work), London: [...] Tho[mas] Bennet [...], →OCLC, column 154:
      During his [Theophilus Higgons's] residence in the said house [Christ Church, Oxford], he was esteemed a Person to be much stained with Puritanisme, and to be violent against all such that were suspected to favour the Romish See. When he was Censor also, he was so zealous as to saw down a harmless maypole standing within the precincts of the said house, because forsooth he thought it came out of a Romish Forest.
  5. (obsolete ) One who censures or condemns.
    Synonym: censurer
  6. (computing ) An algorithm that approves or rejects something on grounds of taste or morality etc.
    I tried using a dirty word as my user name for the online game, but the censor rejected it.
Usage notes
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Not to be confused with censer ("container for burning incense; person who perfumes with incense") or censure ("act of condemning as wrong; official reprimand").

Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Ancient Roman magistrate
official responsible for removal of objectionable material or sensitive content
college or university official
one who condemns or censors
algorithm that rejects something
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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

  1. To review for, and if necessary to remove or suppress, content from books, films, correspondence, and other media which is regarded as objectionable (for example, obscene, likely to incite violence, or sensitive).
    Synonyms: bowdlerize , expurgate , expunge , redact
    Antonym: decensor
    The people responsible for censoring films have seen some startling things in their time.
    Occupying powers typically censor anything reeking of resistance
    • 1909, Arthur Stringer, "The Movement in Retreat", in The Gun-runner, New York, N.Y.: B. W. Dodge & Company, →OCLC, page 134:
      Ganley is in hourly dread of every message that comes into your wireless-room. He insists on censoring anything that might betray him.
  2. (statistics , chiefly passive voice ) To partially obscure an observation.
    Early dropout is one cause of right-censoring.
Derived terms
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Translations
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to review for, and if necessary to remove or suppress, objectionable content
in statistics

Etymology 2

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From an incorrect translation of German Zensur ("censorship").[1]

Noun

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censor (plural censors )

  1. (psychology ) A hypothetical subconscious agency which filters unacceptable thought before it reaches the conscious mind.
Translations
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hypothetical subconscious agency

References

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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

  1. censor
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Further reading

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Danish

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Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology

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From Latin censor .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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censor c (singular definite censoren , plural indefinite censorer )

  1. external examiner

Declension

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Declension of censor
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative censor censoren censorer censorerne
genitive censors censorens censorers censorernes

Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin censor .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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censor m (plural censors , diminutive censortje  n)

  1. censor
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Descendants

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  • → Indonesian: sensor ("censor")

Latin

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Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Latin cēnseō
Proto-Indo-European *-tōr
Proto-Italic *-tōr
Latin -tor
Latin cēnsor

    From cēnseō ("to assess, value, judge, tax, etc.") + -tor (agentive suffix).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    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

    Declension

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    Third-declension noun.

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    Descendants

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    References

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    • "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, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • "censor", in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1] , 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

    Portuguese

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    Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Latin cēnseō
    Proto-Indo-European *-tōr
    Proto-Italic *-tōr
    Latin -tor
    Latin cēnsor lbor.
    Portuguese censor

      Learned borrowing from Latin cēnsor .[1] [2]

      Pronunciation

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      Adjective

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

      1. censoring
        Synonym: censurador

      Noun

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      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)
      3. censor , censurer (one who censures or condemns)
        Synonym: censurador
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      References

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      1. ^ "censor", in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
      2. ^ "censor", in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

      Further reading

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      Spanish

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      Etymology

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      Etymology tree
      Latin cēnseō
      Proto-Indo-European *-tōr
      Proto-Italic *-tōr
      Latin -tor
      Latin cēnsor bor.
      Spanish censor

        Borrowed from Latin cēnsor .

        Pronunciation

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        Adjective

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

        1. censoring
          Synonyms: censurador , censuradora

        Noun

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

        1. (historical ) censor (Roman magistrate)
        2. censor , censurer (one who censures or condemns)
          Synonyms: censurador , censuradora
        3. censor (a census administrator)
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        Further reading

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        Swedish

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        Etymology

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        Borrowed from Latin censor .

        Noun

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        censor c

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

        Declension

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        See also

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        References

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