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Bowdlerize

//ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly. transitive

    "The bowdlerized version of the novel, while free of vulgarity, was also free of flavor."

  2. 2
    Alternative form of bowdlerize. alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate wordnet

Etymology

From Bowdler + -ize; named after English physician Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825). In 1818, he published a censored version of William Shakespeare (The Family Shakespeare), expurgating “those words and expressions […] which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.”

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