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to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it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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With funds to spare, $20,000 was devoted to deleting duplicate data to optimize website performance.—
Anna Kleiber,
jsonline.com,
6 Aug. 2025
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Worse, organizations often delete footage to save space, losing critical data in the process.—
Freddy Kuo,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Start your free trial and get access to 5 all-new premium newsletters—cancel anytime.—
Andrea J. Arratibel,
Wired News,
12 Aug. 2025
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The floods in Wisconsin caused officials to cancel the last day of the Wisconsin State Fair.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Blue-pencil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blue-pencil. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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