English Explanatory Dictionary

bowdlerize

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.
verb
  1. Alternative form of bowdlerize.

Pronunciation

/ˈbaʊd.ləˌɹaɪz/ /ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz/ en-us-bowdlerize.ogg

Word forms

bowdlerize bowdlerizes bowdlerizing bowdlerized bowdlerise

Etymology

From Bowdler + -ize; named after English physician Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825). In 1818, he published a censored version of William Shakespeare (The Family Shakespeare), expurgating “those words and expressions […] which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.”

Related words

bowdlerism censor expunge expurgate redact sanitize

Derived words

bowdlerization bowdlerizer
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