Definition of CENSORIOUSNESS

Choose the Right Synonym for censorious

critical, hypercritical, faultfinding, captious, carping, censorious mean inclined to look for and point out faults and defects. critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly. a critical essay hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards. hypercritical disparagement of other people's work faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament. a faultfinding reviewer captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds. a captious critic carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws. a carping editorial censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory. the censorious tone of the review

Examples of censorious in a Sentence

The stunt earned her the scorn of her censorious older sister. I was surprised by the censorious tone of the book review.

Recent Examples on the Web Despite his claims to support free expression, Facebook has notoriously and enthusiastically executed the censorious wishes of authoritarian governments around the world. — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Wired, "Mark Zuckerberg Believes Only in Mark Zuckerberg," 3 June 2020 Congress should require American studios to disclose whether a film has been altered in any way to meet the approval of China’s censorious regime. — Jonah Goldberg, National Review, "How to Counter Chinese Pressure on Hollywood," 29 Apr. 2020 Representatives from First Liberty were equally censorious of Simmons. — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, "New religious liberty battle: Drive-in church services versus pandemic lockdowns," 15 Apr. 2020 Young staffers on liberal political campaigns often display the slightly censorious cheerfulness of a resident-hall adviser, but the Warren organizers possessed a hawkeyed attention to detail and the essential American energy of malaria eradicators. — Benjamin Wallace-wells, The New Yorker, "What Happened to Elizabeth Warren?," 14 Feb. 2020 Ask about the cause, however, and the accord dissolves in a mess of accusations: against socialist Democrats, racist Republicans, censorious Silicon Valley or nativist Fox News. — The Economist, "Original sin How to fix the design flaws in American democracy," 18 Jan. 2020 The festival has its roots in a competition that began in the 17th century to ensure quality wines from the region, with a grading system that often got censorious — with some winegrowers who didn’t pass muster all but shunned. — Jamey Keaten, chicagotribune.com, "Swiss celebrate once-in-a-generation winegrowers’ fest," 24 July 2019 Shooting in censorious China had to happen underground without proper permits, for fear that authorities would shut down production. — NBC News, "Taiwan opens doors wider to LGBTQ content," 13 Dec. 2019 The festival has its roots in a competition that began in the 17th century to ensure quality wines from the region, with a grading system that often got censorious — with some winegrowers who didn’t pass muster all but shunned. — Jamey Keaten, chicagotribune.com, "Swiss celebrate once-in-a-generation winegrowers’ fest," 24 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'censorious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.