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View synonyms for expurgate

expurgate

[ ek-sper-geyt ]

verb (used with object)

, ex·pur·gat·ed, ex·pur·gat·ing.
  1. to amend by removing words, passages, etc., deemed offensive or objectionable:

    Most children read an expurgated version of Grimms' fairy tales.

    Synonyms: bowdlerize, purge, censor, excise, delete

  2. to purge or cleanse of moral offensiveness.


expurgate

/ ɛksˈpɜːɡətərɪ; ˈɛkspəˌɡeɪt; ɛkˌspɜːɡəˈtɔːrɪəl; -trɪ /

verb

  1. tr to amend (a book, text, etc) by removing (obscene or offensive sections)
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


expurgate

  1. To clean up, remove impurities. An expurgated edition of a book has had offensive words or descriptions changed or removed.


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Derived Forms

  • ˌexpurˈgation, noun
  • expurgatory, adjective
  • ˈexpurˌgator, noun
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Other Words From

  • expur·gation noun
  • expur·gator noun
  • un·expur·gated adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of expurgate1

1615–25; < Latin expurgātus, past participle of expurgāre to clean out. See ex- 1, purge, -ate 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of expurgate1

C17: from Latin expurgāre to clean out, from purgāre to purify; see purge
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Example Sentences

The resolutions of the loyalists were curiosities, and the secretary did not always expurgate bad spelling, etc.

Why must Northern publishers expurgate and emasculate the literature of the world before it is permitted to reach them?

The dreamer sees a worshipper—his wife—enter, to palliate or expurgate her soul of some ugly stain.

His speech was two or three words longer, but they are inappropriate at the end of a chapter, and I expurgate.

They would expurgate it from their vocabulary if they could.

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expungeexpurgatorial