Bowdlerisation
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The action or instance of bowdlerising; the omission or removal of material considered vulgar or indecent. countable, uncountable
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of bowdlerisation. alt-of, countable, uncountable
"Her eighty-seven songs appeared first under the pseudonym ‘Mrs Bogan of Bogan’ or ‘B.B.’ in The Scottish Minstrel (1821–24), and posthumously as Lays from Strathearn. Not a few of them are mere Bowdlerisations of ‘indelicate’ favourites; but four at least live, and shall live, with the airs to which they are wedded—the exquisite ‘Land o’ the Leal’ (c. 1798), and ‘Caller Herrin’,’ ‘The Laird o’ Cockpen,’ and ‘The Auld House.’"
- 3 the act of deleting or modifying all passages considered to be indecent wordnet
- 4 written material that has been bowdlerized wordnet
Example
More examples"Her eighty-seven songs appeared first under the pseudonym ‘Mrs Bogan of Bogan’ or ‘B.B.’ in The Scottish Minstrel (1821–24), and posthumously as Lays from Strathearn. Not a few of them are mere Bowdlerisations of ‘indelicate’ favourites; but four at least live, and shall live, with the airs to which they are wedded—the exquisite ‘Land o’ the Leal’ (c. 1798), and ‘Caller Herrin’,’ ‘The Laird o’ Cockpen,’ and ‘The Auld House.’"
Etymology
From bowdlerise + -ation.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.