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Glite Dictionary
to disemvowel

to disemvowel

9.9
To remove vowels from text to hide bad words
  • verb
  • /ˌdɪsɛmˈvaʊəl/
  • Jargon
: eliminar las vocales
  • Offensive comments in mod will be deleted, and ones that slip through mod will be disemvoweled.

Examples

  • The teacher decided to disemvowel the text in order to create a fun challenge for the students.

  • In order to prevent hate speech, many posts were disemvoweled before being published on the forum.

  • To avoid copyright issues, the artist chose to disemvowel the lyrics of the song in her art piece.

Synonyms

to elide
vsto disemvowel
2 8.2

To leave out part of a word when you say or write it

focuses on removing vowels for censorship or play

Antonyms

to vowelize
  • Specialized
9.9

To make a sound or letter sound like a vowel when speaking

Surface Forms

disemvowel infinitive
disemvoweled past
disemvoweled past participle
disemvoweling present participle
disemvowels third person singular

Morphology

disemvowel = emvowel (semi-transparent) = dis + em + vowel

The step from 'emvowel' to 'disemvowel' is fairly clear as reversal or removal, but the base verb 'emvowel' is rare and unfamiliar to most learners.

Etymology

The word disemvowel comes from the part dis- meaning 'remove' and vowel, the sound letters 'a, e, i, o, u'. So, to disemvowel a word is to take out its vowels, which people often do online as a joke or to hide offensive words.