BOWDLERIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bowdlerize mean? 

• BOWDLERIZE (verb)
  The verb BOWDLERIZE has 1 sense:

1. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

  Familiarity information: BOWDLERIZE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOWDLERIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bowdlerize    ... he / she / it bowdlerizes   
Past simple: bowdlerized   
Past participle: bowdlerized   
-ing form: bowdlerizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bowdlerise; bowdlerize; castrate; expurgate; shorten

Context example:

bowdlerize a novel

Hypernyms (to "bowdlerize" is one way to...):

abbreviate; abridge; contract; cut; foreshorten; reduce; shorten (reduce in scope while retaining essential elements)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They won't bowdlerize the story

Derivation:

bowdlerization (the act of deleting or modifying all passages considered to be indecent)

bowdlerization (written material that has been bowdlerized)

bowdlerizer (a person who edits a text by removing obscene or offensive words or passages)

 Context examples 

Well, a bowdlerized version of it would run: 'Professor Challenger presents his compliments to the President of the Zoological Institute, and would take it as a personal favor if he would go to the devil.'

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)