Adjacent Words

Expurgate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EX'PURGATE, v.t. [L. expurgo; ex and purgo, to cleanse.]
To purge; to cleanse; to purify from any thing noxious, offensive or erroneous.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel" [syn: bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-gated; -gating) Etymology: Latin expurgatus, past participle of expurgare, from ex- + purgare to purge Date: 1678 to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous; especially to expunge objectionable parts from before publication or presentation <an expurgated edition of the letters> • expurgation noun • expurgator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 remove matter thought to be objectionable from (a book etc.). 2 remove (such matter). Derivatives: expurgation n. expurgator n. expurgatorial adj. expurgatory adj. Etymology: L expurgare expurgat- (as EX-(1), purgare cleanse)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expurgate Ex"pur*gate (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expurgated; p. pr. & vb. n. Expurgating.] [L. expurgatus, p. p. of expurgare to purge, purify; ex out, from + purgare to cleanse, purify, purge. See Purge, and cf. Spurge.] To purify; to clear from anything noxious, offensive, or erroneous; to cleanse; to purge; as, to expurgate a book.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(expurgates, expurgating, expurgated) If someone expurgates a piece of writing, they remove parts of it before it is published because they think those parts will offend or shock people. (FORMAL) He heavily expurgated the work in its second edition. = censor VERB: V n • expurgated It was first published in 1914 in a highly expurgated version. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Purify, purge, cleanse, free from objectionable matter.

Moby Thesaurus

abbreviate, abridge, bleach, blot out, blue-pencil, bowdlerize, cancel, censor, clean, clean out, clean up, cleanse, clear out, cross out, cut, delete, delouse, depurate, deterge, dry-clean, dust, dust off, edit, edit out, erase, expunge, freshen, kill, lustrate, omit, purge, purify, reform, rescind, rub out, scavenge, spruce, steam-clean, strike, strike off, strike out, sweep out, sweeten, tidy, void, whiten, wipe, wipe off, wipe out, wipe up