redactions
Blacked-out text sections
Redactions are portions of text that have been removed or obscured, typically to protect sensitive information.
Government documents often appear with redactions—blacked-out sections hiding classified details, personal data, or legally protected material.
The heavily redacted report revealed little about the investigation.
The word can also refer to the act of editing or preparing text for publication, though this older sense has been largely overtaken by the censorship meaning.
Complete power loss
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- bowdlerizeRemove objectionable content
- expurgateRemove offensive material
- sanitizeCleanse of pathogens
scrub · purge · banned · forbidden · stifle · silence · withhold · concealment
Maximum security clearance level
- confidentialMeant to stay secret
- classifiedRestricted from disclosure
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
- covertIntentionally concealed
clandestine · need-to-know · compartmentalized · eyes-only · restricted · clearance · CIA · NSA
Federal transparency statute
- declassificationLifting official secrecy designations
- subpoenaWrit requiring testimony
- discoveryAct of finding something
- transparencyState of being see-through
whistleblower · disclosure · litigation · evidence · deposition · attorney-client · privilege · unsealed
Original text before publication
- strikethroughLine negating text
- obscuredMade hard to perceive
- marked-upBearing added notations
- pagesBound paper sheets
files · records · memos · reports · correspondence · transcripts · contracts · PDFs
Unfilled spaces between
- lacunaeAbsent portions, plural
- absencesStates of being away
- deletionsActs of removing content
- elisionsDropped vowels or syllables
missing · withheld · incomplete · holes · blanks · excised · removed · expunged
Removing identifying information
- PIIIdentity-revealing information
- GDPREU data protection law
- HIPAAMedical privacy statute
- de-identificationObscuring personal markers in records
blackout
Complete power loss
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- bowdlerizeRemove objectionable content
- expurgateRemove offensive material
sanitize · scrub · purge · banned · forbidden · stifle · silence · withhold · concealment · propaganda
top-secret
Maximum security clearance level
- confidentialMeant to stay secret
- classifiedRestricted from disclosure
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
covert · clandestine · need-to-know · compartmentalized · eyes-only · restricted · clearance · CIA · NSA · Pentagon
FOIA
Federal transparency statute
- declassificationLifting official secrecy designations
- subpoenaWrit requiring testimony
- discoveryAct of finding something
transparency · whistleblower · disclosure · litigation · evidence · deposition · attorney-client · privilege · unsealed · exhibit
manuscript
Original text before publication
- strikethroughLine negating text
- obscuredMade hard to perceive
- marked-upBearing added notations
pages · files · records · memos · reports · correspondence · transcripts · contracts · PDFs · photocopies
gaps
Unfilled spaces between
elisions · missing · withheld · incomplete · holes · blanks · excised · removed · expunged · struck
anonymization
Removing identifying information
de-identification · consent · anonymity · masking · pseudonymization
- media regulationcensorship, content moderation, press censorship, film censorship, art censorship
- textual criticismcritical apparatus, collation, emendation, recension, variant
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
- discoveryfind, finding, discovery, discover, finding out
- improvementsimprovement, fixes, betterment, enhancement, upgrade
- courtroom termsoath, witness, judge, trial, jury
redactionsrevelations
Surprising facts made known
disclosures · exposures · publications · declassifications · unmasking
redactionsfull disclosure
Withholding no information
transparency · openness · declassification · freedom of information · public release
redactionsadditions
Things joined to existing wholes
insertions · restorations · inclusions · full disclosure · full text
- redaction criticismStudy of textual editing processes