bowdlerize

American  

[bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-] / ˈboʊd ləˌraɪz, ˈbaʊd- /

especially British, bowdlerise

verb (used with object)

bowdlerized, bowdlerizing

1. to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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bowdlerize British  

/ ˈbaʊdləˌraɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to remove passages or words regarded as indecent from (a play, novel, etc); expurgate

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Other Word Forms

• bowdlerism noun
• bowdlerization noun
• bowdlerizer noun
• unbowdlerized adjective

Etymology

Origin of bowdlerize

1830–40; after Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), English editor of an expurgated edition of Shakespeare

Example Sentences

Apparently, to bowdlerize Coco Chanel, elegance really has been refusal.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2018

To bowdlerize Benjamin Franklin, in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and Arsenal finishing in the top four.

From The Guardian • Apr. 26, 2017

The rush to bowdlerize  what Biden had said turned  a glancing tap of the bruise into a grinding fist.

From Slate • May 9, 2012

Ives managed to talk 20th Century-Fox out of tampering with The Blue-Tail Fly, though he did have to bowdlerize his other favorite, Foggy, Foggy Dew, an old Irish ballad.

From Time Magazine Archive

Later, when the novel appeared in book form, the Comstocks began an action to have it suppressed, and forced the publisher to bowdlerize it.

From A Book of Prefaces by Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)