ex·pur·gate
ˈek-spər-ˌgāt 
expurgated; expurgating
: to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous
especially
: to expunge objectionable parts from before publication or presentation
an expurgated edition of the letters
ex·pur·ga·tion
plural -s
: an act of expurgating, purging, or cleansing : purification from something morally harmful, offensive, sinful, or erroneous
Did you know?
Expurgation has a long and questionable history. Perhaps history's most famous expurgator, or censor, was the English editor Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published the Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of Shakespeare's plays that omitted or changed any passages that, in Bowdler's opinion, couldn't decently be read aloud in a family. As a result, the term bowdlerize is now a synonym of expurgate.
Examples of expurgate in a Sentence
Verb
They felt it was necessary to expurgate his letters before publishing them.
the newspaper had to expurgate the expletive-laden speech that the criminal made upon being sentenced to life imprisonment
Recent Examples on the Web
J. Hoberman,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2016
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Verb
The movie’s climactic punch line was repeatedly expurgated and reinstated during previews.
—
J. Hoberman,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2016
Cite this Entry
“Expurgate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expurgate. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
expurgate
verb
ex·pur·gate
ˈek-spər-ˌgāt
expurgated; expurgating
: to remove objectionable parts from (as a book)
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