From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcensorcensor1 ●○○ verb [transitive] FORBIDto examine books, films, letters etc to remove anything that is considered offensive, morally harmful, or politically dangerous etc → censorship, ban The information given to the press was carefully censored by the Ministry of Defence.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
censor• Prisoners' letters were always heavily censored.• As indicated, Spenser was unsuccessful, his tract censored.• The government censored all letters and telegrams going abroad during the war.• Private businesses and clubs can censor all they like.• Mail was censored, and there were no personal telephones.• But he had been on the bad side of the government lately, having publicly criticized it for censoring authors.• Film was still censored, but by more liberal standards than in 1945.• The court ruled that student newspapers could not be censored by school officials.• The works Mr Torode would refuse to censor differ in status.• There was never any question of censoring his speech.• It was an appalling thing to censor Picasso like that.censorcen‧sor2 /ˈsensə $ -ər/ noun [countable] FORBIDsomeone whose job is to examine books, films, letters etc and remove anything considered to be offensive, morally harmful, or politically dangerous → censorshipExamples from the Corpus
censor• Ironically, SurfWatch has become something of a censor itself, since the company decides which sites to block.• They know that his letters home will be read by censors, and that any indication of his whereabouts will be expunged.• As time passed, however, the Church censors began to act as if the distinction were of no importance.• However, Kahn may have had the last laugh in spite of his censors.• Party censors stamped out any arts they did not like.• In this form the censor permitted the book to pass.Origin censor2 (1500-1600) Latin censere; → CENSUS 