as in to delete
to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it
military censors blue-penciled any remarks that could possibly be deemed critical
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Recent Examples of blue-pencil
Before getting sunk by a turgid love story — the kind of cinematic dead zone Thalberg would have blue-penciled in the screenplay stage — The Last Tycoon provides a good sense of what a producer actually does.
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Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2025
Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blue-pencil
Verb
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In December 2020 — shortly before Hilaria's heritage controversy emerged — Schumer posted some of Hilaria's family photos on her own Instagram page, later deleting them and apologizing to Hilaria, who spoke out about receiving negative comments.—
Benjamin VanHoose,
People.com,
16 May 2025
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Earlier in the litigation, which has been ongoing since February 2021, Smartmatic faced accusations from Fox of improperly deleting materials, which the voting company denied.—
Marshall Cohen,
CNN Money,
14 May 2025
Verb
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But this sort of work would require close collaboration with Chinese researchers, at just the time when those collaborations are being scrutinized or canceled.—
Daniel Engber,
The Atlantic,
20 May 2025
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Panama's comptroller general and attorney general are now seeking to cancel CK Hutchison's concessions to its two Canal Zone ports.—
Gordon G. Chang,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Blue-pencil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blue-pencil. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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