The bowdlerized version of the novel, while free of vulgarity, was also free of flavor.
Source: wiktionary
Bowdlerize
//ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz//
Synonyms for "bowdlerize" (57 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (12)
Strong matches (17)
Related words (28)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
7 entriesRelated terms
6 entriesderived
2 entriesmanner of
1 entriesrelated to
9 entriesTranslations
27 translations across 15 languages.
Danish
1 entries- censurere verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Dutch
2 entries- censureren verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- kuisen verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Esperanto
1 entries- cenzuri verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Finnish
2 entries- bowdlerisoida verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- sensuroida verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
French
2 entries- censurer verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- expurger verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
German
1 entries- zensieren verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Hungarian
2 entries- cenzúráz verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- meghúz verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Icelandic
1 entries- (to expurgate) ritskoða verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Italian
1 entries- censurare verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Japanese
2 entries- 伏せ字 verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- 伏字 verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Norwegian Bokmål
2 entries- forskjønne verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- sensurere verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Polish
4 entries- cenzurować verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- ocenzurować verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- ugrzeczniać verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- ugrzecznić verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Portuguese
2 entries- censurar verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- expurgar verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Russian
2 entries- вымарывать verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- цензури́ровать verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Spanish
2 entries- censurar verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
- expurgar verb (to remove or alter parts of a text considered offensive)
Sample sentences
5 total sentences available.
Mr. Stanley decided to treat that as irrelevant. "There ought to be a Censorship of Books.[…]" Ogilvy pursued his own topic. "I'm inclined to think, Stanley, myself that as a matter of fact it was the expurgated 'Romeo and Juliet' did the mischief. […] All they left it was the moon and stars. And the balcony and 'My Romeo!'" "Shakespeare is altogether different from the modern stuff. Altogether different. I'm not discussing Shakespeare. I don't want to Bowdlerise Shakespeare.[…]"
Source: wiktionary
"Wadley sent a message: 'The President of the Zoological Institute presents his compliments to Professor Challenger, and would take it as a personal favor if he would do them the honour to come to their next meeting.' The answer was unprintable." "You don't say?" "Well, a bowdlerized version of it would run: 'Professor Challenger presents his compliments to the President of the Zoological Institute, and would take it as a personal favour if he would go to the devil.'"
Source: wiktionary
His critics take alarm only when it becomes apparent that he would bowdlerize Homer and exclude from his state the great tragedians.
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 5 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.