Other forms: censored, censors, censoring
To censor is to cut out parts the public is not allowed to see. Censor the letter, heavily censored, a censored film.
It is done by an authority, which is what separates censoring from editing: a censor removes what somebody in power does not want seen. In Britain the Lord Chamberlain censored the theatre until 1968. Note censorship; and the very different word censure, meaning formal criticism — the two are confused constantly and mean quite different things.
1verbcensorTo cut out parts the public is not allowed to see.
“The government censored the news report, removing every mention of the protests.”
2nounofficialAn official who does this.
“The film censor ordered several violent scenes to be cut.”
censor is an official suppression.
Latin censor was a Roman magistrate who kept the register and supervised public morals, from censere, to assess. Census comes from the same assessing.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱens- — to announce, proclaim; to put in order
Latin
cēnsor — magistrate; critic
English, today
censor
Built from
The noun is borrowed from Latin cēnsor (“magistrate; critic”), from cēnseō (“to give an opinion, judge; to assess, reckon; to decree, determine”) + -sor (variant of -tor). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱens- (“to announce, proclaim; to put in order”). The English word is cognate with Late Middle English sensour, ira-pro cánhati (“to declare; to explain”), Sanskrit शंसति (“to declare”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA