bowdlerize

C2+ Topic:Communication
US /ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz/ UK /ˈbaʊd.ləˌɹaɪz/
verb

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    to edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

    We bowlderised the film.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to edit by omitting or... castrate

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.”

Topics

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