CENSOR

I. noun Etymology: Latin, Roman magistrate, from censēre to give as one's opinion, assess; perhaps akin to Sanskrit śaṁsati he praises Date: 1526 a person who supervises conduct and morals: as, an official who examines materials (as publications or films) for objectionable matter, an official (as in time of war) who reads communications (as letters) and deletes material considered sensitive or harmful, one of two magistrates of early Rome acting as census takers, assessors, and inspectors of morals and conduct, a hypothetical psychic agency that represses unacceptable notions before they reach consciousness, ~ial adjective II. transitive verb (~ed; ~ing) Date: 1882 to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable