expurgate
verb
ex·pur·gate
ˈek-spər-ˌgāt 
expurgated; expurgating
: to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous
especially
: to expunge objectionable parts from before publication or presentation
an expurgated edition of the letters
Did you know?
Expurgation has a long and questionable history. Perhaps history's most famous expurgator, or censor, was the English editor Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published the Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of Shakespeare's plays that omitted or changed any passages that, in Bowdler's opinion, couldn't decently be read aloud in a family. As a result, the term bowdlerize is now a synonym of expurgate.
Examples of expurgate in a Sentence
They felt it was necessary to expurgate his letters before publishing them.
the newspaper had to expurgate the expletive-laden speech that the criminal made upon being sentenced to life imprisonment
Recent Examples on the Web
Mr. Jang’s name has been expurgated from all official records in the North.
—
Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2016
The movie’s climactic punch line was repeatedly expurgated and reinstated during previews.
—J. Hoberman, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2016
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2016
The movie’s climactic punch line was repeatedly expurgated and reinstated during previews.
—J. Hoberman, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2016
Dictionary Entries Near expurgate
Cite this Entry
“Expurgate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expurgate. Accessed 2 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
expurgate
verb
ex·pur·gate
ˈek-spər-ˌgāt
expurgated; expurgating
: to remove objectionable parts from (as a book)
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share