blue-penciling

verb

present participle of blue-pencil
as in deleting
to show (something written) to be no longer valid by drawing a cross over or a line through it military censors blue-penciled any remarks that could possibly be deemed critical

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blue-penciling
  1. deleting
  2. canceling
Verb
  • So far, synapse-deleting tools are much less precise than synapse-adding ones.
    — Simon Makin, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Meta describes this option as permanently deleting chat history, stored files and active tasks.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of deleting
Verb
  • While more cities are canceling their contracts with Flock Safety, just as many are discovering how difficult that can be in some instances.
    — Terrence O'Brien, The Verge, 1 Nov. 2026
  • Players generally need around four to six weeks to ramp up for the season, so if a deal hasn’t been reached by this point, canceling games comes closer to reality.
    — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of canceling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

blue-penciled
blue-penciling
blue-pencils
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Cite this Entry

“Blue-penciling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blue-penciling. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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