bowdlerizer
Removes offensive content
A bowdlerizer is someone who removes or sanitizes content considered offensive, indelicate, or unsuitable—especially from literature.
The term comes from Thomas Bowdler, who published an 1818 edition of Shakespeare with sexual and violent material excised.
The word carries a note of disapproval: bowdlerizers are seen as prudish censors who diminish works by softening them.
The studio executives acted as bowdlerizers, cutting any scene that might offend.
Editor who removed impropriety
- Family ShakespeareCensored theatrical works compilation
- VictorianOf a prim era
- 19th centuryThe eighteen hundreds
- expurgatorOne who removes objectionable content
moral reform · prudery · propriety · decency · gentility · respectability · drawing room · delicacy
Remove offensive material
- redactConceal text for secrecy
- abridgeShorten by omission
- exciseRemove by cutting
- omitLeave something out
delete · cut · blue-pencil · sanitize · clean up · tone down · water down · soften
Excessively concerned with propriety
- puritanicalExcessively strict about morals
- priggishSmugly self-righteous
- strait-lacedExcessively proper and strict
- sanctimoniousFeigning moral superiority
preachy · self-righteous · narrow-minded · Victorian · conservative · overprotective · paternalistic · censorious
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- classic literatureEnduring fictional works
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- abridgmentShortened form of text
- school editionText revised for classrooms
manuscript · publishing · anthology · reader · compilation · revision · reprint
Indecent word or act
- profanityVulgar or obscene speech
- blasphemyIrreverence toward the sacred
- vulgarityOffensive coarseness in manner
- indecencyOffensive or vulgar behavior
sexuality · violence · nudity · coarse language · double entendre · innuendo · indelicacy · impropriety
Thomas Bowdler
Editor who removed impropriety
- Family ShakespeareCensored theatrical works compilation
- VictorianOf a prim era
- 19th centuryThe eighteen hundreds
expurgator · moral reform · prudery · propriety · decency · gentility · respectability · drawing room · delicacy · squeamishness
expurgate
Remove offensive material
omit · delete · cut · blue-pencil · sanitize · clean up · tone down · water down · soften · modify
prudish
Excessively concerned with propriety
- puritanicalExcessively strict about morals
- priggishSmugly self-righteous
- strait-lacedExcessively proper and strict
sanctimonious · preachy · self-righteous · narrow-minded · Victorian · conservative · overprotective · paternalistic · censorious · disapproving
Shakespeare
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- classic literatureEnduring fictional works
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- abridgmentShortened form of text
school edition · manuscript · publishing · anthology · reader · compilation · revision · reprint
obscenity
Indecent word or act
- profanityVulgar or obscene speech
- blasphemyIrreverence toward the sacred
- vulgarityOffensive coarseness in manner
indecency · sexuality · violence · nudity · coarse language · double entendre · innuendo · indelicacy · impropriety · explicit material
bowdlerizerpreservationist
Heritage protection advocate
purist · restorationist · textualist · originalist · literalist
bowdlerizerprovocateur
One who deliberately incites
sensationalist · pornographer · taboo-breaker · scandalmonger · libertine
bowdlerize, bowdlerized, bowdlerization, bowdlerizers, bowdlerizing, bowdlerizations