censorious

[ sen-sawr-ee-uhs, -sohr- ]

adjective

1. severely critical; faultfinding; carping.

censorious

/ sɛnˈsɔːrɪəs /

adjective

1. harshly critical; fault-finding

Derived Forms

• cenˈsoriousness, noun
• cenˈsoriously, adverb

Other Words From

• cen·sori·ous·ly adverb
• cen·sori·ous·ness noun
• anti·cen·sori·ous adjective
• anti·cen·sori·ous·ly adverb
• anti·cen·sori·ous·ness noun
• noncen·sori·ous adjective
• noncen·sori·ous·ly adverb
• noncen·sori·ous·ness noun
• over·cen·sori·ous adjective
• over·cen·sori·ous·ly adverb
• over·cen·sori·ous·ness noun
• uncen·sori·ous adjective
• uncen·sori·ous·ly adverb
• uncen·sori·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of censorious¹

1530–40; < Latin cēnsōrius of a censor, hence, austere, moral; censor, -tory ¹

Example Sentences

On any given weeknight on Fox News, at any given moment on the two programs he hosts—The Five, a panel show that airs at 5, and Jesse Watters Primetime, his solo joint, which airs at 8—the odds are pretty good that Watters is smirking, or sneering, or chuckling, or otherwise evincing censorious glee about the shameful doings of hoaxers, weirdos, migrants, protesters, media elitists, loony liberals, and other such partisan straw men.

From Slate

Free speech experts fear that USC, in canceling its valedictorian’s speech, is paving the way for a censorious commencement season, offering others a playbook on how to silence potentially controversial speakers in the weeks to come.

From Los Angeles Times

He distorted emails and other exchanges to make them look coercive when they were nothing of the sort, cherry-picking and rearranging quotations to put them in a censorious light.

From Slate

Some of the same censorious actors prominent as Opie was shooting her landmark photograph a generation ago are still at work today; in January alone, more than 275 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in statehouses across the country.

From Los Angeles Times

In Idaho, librarians are so demoralized by the censorious political climate — one official in the city of Buhl referred to the local librarian as a “groomer” — that more than half recently told the state’s library association that they are thinking of leaving the field, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

From Los Angeles Times