censure

censure

See also: censuré

English

WOTD – 30 September 2015

Etymology

From 1350–1400 Middle English censure, from Old French, from Latin censūra (“censor's office or assessment”), from censere (“to tax, assess, value, judge, consider, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.ʃə/
  • (UK, now rare) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛns.jʊə/, /ˈsɛn.ʃ(j)ʊə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.ʃɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

censure (countable and uncountable, plural censures)

1. The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, “Chapter 1 part ii”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], OCLC 995235880:

     Censure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy, a conduct which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Hadrian.

   • 1856 December​, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson [from the Encyclopædia Britannica]”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, OCLC 30956848:

     Both the censure and the praise were merited.

2. An official reprimand.
3. Judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand; condemnatory judgment.
   • c. 1589–1590, Christopher Marlo[we], Tho[mas] Heywood, editor, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, OCLC 1121318438, Act PROLOGUE SPOKEN AT COURT:

     He that hath past
     So many censures is now come at last
     To have your princely ears […]

   • 1679–1715, Gilbert Burnet, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of the Reformation of the Church of England., London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […]:

     excommunication […] being the chief ecclesiastical censure

4. (obsolete) Judgment either favorable or unfavorable; opinion.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱens-‎ (0 c, 14 e)

Translations

the act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension

Armenian: պարսավանք (hy) (parsavankʿ), նախատինք (hy) (naxatinkʿ) Old Armenian: դսրով (dsrov) Bulgarian: неодобрение (bg) n (neodobrenie) Catalan: censura (ca) f Finnish: moittiminen (fi) Galician: censura (gl) f German: Tadel (de) m, Zurechtweisung f, Kritik (de) f, Ermahnung (de) f, Tadeln (de) m, Zurechtweisen (de) n, Kritisieren n, Ermahnen n Greek: Ancient: ὄνειδος n (óneidos) Middle English: blame Russian: порица́ние (ru) n (poricánije), нарека́ние (ru) n (narekánije) Sanskrit: निन्दा (sa) f (nindā) Spanish: censura (es) f Tagalog: pula (tl) Tocharian B: nāki ? Ukrainian: осуд m (osud), засудження n (zasudžennja) Zazaki: sansur

an official reprimand

Bulgarian: порицание (bg) n (poricanie) Finnish: moitteet pl German: Tadel (de) m, Verweis (de) m, Rüge (de) f Russian: вы́говор (ru) m (výgovor), замеча́ние (ru) n (zamečánije) Ukrainian: засудження n (zasudžennja)

judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand

Finnish: tuomio (fi)

Verb

censure (third-person singular simple present censures, present participle censuring, simple past and past participle censured)

1. To criticize harshly.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:

     I may be censured that nature thus gives way to loyalty.

   • 1946 January and February, T. S. Lascelles, “A Series of False Signals”, in Railway Magazine, page 43:

     The Woodwalton signalman, Rose, who was severely censured in Captain Tyler's report, behaved with great negligence.

2. To formally rebuke.
3. (obsolete) To form or express a judgment in regard to; to estimate; to judge.
   • 1625, John Fletcher; Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, OCLC 3083972, Act I, scene ii:

     Should I say more, you might well censure me a flatterer.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:reprehend

Related terms

• censor
• censorial
• censorious
• censorship
• census

 

Translations

to criticize harshly

Arabic: لَام‎ (ar) (lām), اِسْتِنْكَر‎ (istinkar), اِسْتِهْجَن‎ (istihjan) Egyptian Arabic: لام‎ (laam), استنكر‎ (estankar), استهجن‎ (estahgen) Bulgarian: порицавам (bg) (poricavam) Catalan: censurar (ca) Czech: plísnit (cs), zavrhnout (cs), odsoudit (cs), vyplísnit Esperanto: admoni Finnish: tuomita (fi) Galician: censurar (gl) German: tadeln (de), monieren (de), kritisieren (de), verurteilen (de), verdammen (de) Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌵𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽 (anaqiþan) Indonesian: mengecam (id) Maori: wenerau Tagalog: pulaan

to formally rebuke

Bulgarian: осъждам (bg) (osǎždam) Dutch: berispen (nl), op de vingers tikken German: tadeln (de), Verweis erteilen, Rüge erteilen, rügen (de), Tadel erteilen Greek: Ancient: εὐθύνω (euthúnō)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) décrier (fr), (please verify) censurer (fr)

References

• “censure”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “censure”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "censure" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

Anagrams

• encurse

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.syʁ/

Etymology 1

From Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censure f (plural censures)

1. censorship

Derived terms

• motion de censure

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

censure

1. inflection of censurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “censure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• cénures

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃenˈsu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: cen‧sù‧re

Noun

censure f

1. plural of censura

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kenˈsuː.re/, [kẽːˈs̠uːrɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃenˈsu.re/, [t͡ʃenˈsuːre]

Participle

cēnsūre

1. vocative masculine singular of cēnsūrus

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾe/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾ(ɨ)/

• Hyphenation: cen‧su‧re

Verb

censure

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θenˈsuɾe/ [θẽnˈsu.ɾe]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /senˈsuɾe/ [sẽnˈsu.ɾe]
• Rhymes: -uɾe
• Syllabification: cen‧su‧re

Verb

censure

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative