censor
v.to remove parts of a book, film, or message that are considered offensive or inappropriate. You use this when an authority decides something should not be seen or read.
v.to suppress or remove parts of a text, image, or broadcast deemed objectionable, offensive, or sensitive. Transitive; typically used in passive constructions when the agent is unspecified.
“The school decided to censor the history textbook.”
“The publisher had to censor several pages of the novel before it could be sold in schools.”
“Critics argued that the government's decision to censor the documentary violated press freedom and stifled public debate on the controversial policy.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. It is frequently used in the passive voice.
“Videos of the disaster, which tore through the border area between Tibet and Nepal, have been removed from social media by China’s censors.”
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 (suffix forming masculine agent nouns)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱens- (“to announce, proclaim; to put in order”). The English word is cognate with Late Middle English sensour, Proto-Iranian cánhati (“to declare; to explain”), Sanskrit शंसति (śaṃsati, “to declare”). The verb is derived from the noun.
From an incorrect translation of German Zensur (“censorship”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.