censorship

noun

cen·​sor·​ship ˈsen(t)-sər-ˌship 

1

a

: the institution, system, or practice of censoring

They oppose government censorship.

b

: the actions or practices of censors

especially : censorial control exercised repressively

censorship that has … permitted a very limited dispersion of facts

—Philip Wylie

2

: the office, power, or term of a Roman censor

3

: exclusion from consciousness by the psychic censor

Examples of censorship in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His gloss on censorship, its past and present, is dizzyingly brisk, and limited to the fate of his own book. —Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024

Over three decades, DFW went from housing the last movie censorship board to the biggest non-L.A./NYC domestic market. —Lisa Laman, IndieWire, 11 Oct. 2024

But their companies are not bound by the First Amendment, a protection against government censorship that does not prevent private organizations or companies from deciding what speech to host. —Michael Posner, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024

This idea that there's censorship to stop people from doing, threatening to kill someone, threatening to do something, that's not censorship. —Stefan Becket, CBS News, 2 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

censor entry 1 + -ship

First Known Use

circa 1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing censorship

• anti-censorship
• self-censorship

Kids Definition

censorship

noun

cen·​sor·​ship ˈsen(t)-sər-ˌship 

: the system or practice of censoring

Medical Definition

censorship

noun

cen·​sor·​ship ˈsen(t)-sər-ˌship 

: exclusion from consciousness by the psychic censor

Legal Definition

censorship

noun

cen·​sor·​ship

: the institution, system, or practice of censoring compare freedom of speech, prior restraint