expurgate
verb/ˈɛks.pɚ.ɡeɪt/
Etymology From Latin expurgātus, perfect passive participle of expurgō (“purge, cleanse, purify”).
1
To edit out (incorrect, offensive, or otherwise undesirable information) from a book or other publication; to cleanse; to purge.
- The publisher decided to expurgate the love scene from the book, to make it more child-friendly.
- Yossarian was busy expurgating all but romance words from the letters when the chaplain sat down in a chair between the beds and asked him how he was feeling.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Texan”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 6:
2
To undertake editing out incorrect, offensive, or otherwise undesirable information from (a book or other publication); to cleanse; to purge.
- The publisher decided to expurgate the book, which meant removing the love scene.
- Derived terms
- expurgator, expurgatory
- Related terms
- bowdlerise