to expurgate
- verb
- /ˌɛkspərˈɡeɪt/
- As already discussed, the idea that mountains could be expurgated by friars is at play visually in Conquisia y reduccin in the presence of the numerous snakes.
And that's going to allow him to throw away or expurgate some of the candidates for fairy stories.
- And that's going to allow him to throw away or expurgate some of the candidates for fairy stories.
Examples
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I know this must be making you uncomfortable, but there's no sense in me expurgating a dream, Rose.
Fiction book (1997) -
Like Spaceman, homeless on some college campus, collecting recyclables, begging for quarters, and trying to expurgate extradimensionals from my head.
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With your help, I can expurgate these extradimensionals.
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And that's going to allow him to throw away or expurgate some of the candidates for fairy stories.
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These people are incorrigible, and since none of them could graduate anyway, you are all expurgated.
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If the people at TED deemed the presenter adept enough to invite them to give a talk, then to subsequently take on the role of a censor and expurgate the presentation from the TED website is an unthinkable action.
Blog text (2) -
Only the initial part of the hearing was published—even that duly expurgated, with many discussions omitted as "off the record."
Academic text (1997) -
Misread by those around her, Alison thus functions like the queer that, perceived to be abject, is actually, "the contaminated and expurgated insides of the heterosexual subject" (Fuss 3).
Academic text (2008) -
The editor had to expurgate several sections of the manuscript to meet publishing standards.
-
Before publication, the author chose to expurgate offensive language from the novel.
Synonyms
To remove parts of books and films that are offensive or about politics
To remove all signs of something like a record or memory so it cannot be found
To cut out part of a body or text
Remove or change words people find offensive to make something more acceptable
To remove parts of a book or film to make it less offensive
Remove or change parts of a work because they may upset people
Antonyms
How Extensive
- Literature
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
expurgate = purgate (semi-transparent) = ex + purg + ate
The prefix 'ex-' suggests removal, and 'purgate' means to cleanse, but the specific meaning of editing text for content is specialized.
Etymology
Expurgate comes from Latin parts ex- meaning 'out' and purgare meaning 'to make clean'. It shares the same root as the English word purge, so to expurgate a book is to take things 'out' to make the text 'clean' of anything offensive.