censors

Noun

censor (plural censors)

1. (Ancient-Rome, historical) One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour and morality.
   • The Ancient Roman censors were part of the cursus honorum, a series of public offices held during a political career, like consuls and praetors.

   Synonyms:

   censorian, censurer

2. (Ancient-China, historical) A high-ranking official who was responsible for the supervision of subordinate government officials.
3. An official responsible for the removal or suppression of objectionable material (for example, if obscene or likely to incite violence) or sensitive content in books, films, correspondence, and other media.
   • The headmaster was an even stricter censor of his boarding pupils’ correspondence than the enemy censors had been of his own when the country was occupied.

   Synonyms:

   censurer

4. A college or university official whose duties vary depending on the institution.
   • During his [Theophilus Higgons's] reſidence in the ſaid houſe [Christ Church, Oxford], he was eſteemed a Perſon to be much ſtained with Puritaniſme, and to be violent againſt all ſuch that were ſuſpected to favour the Romiſh See. When he was Cenſor alſo, he was ſo zealous as to ſaw down a harmleſs...1691, [Anthony Wood], “THEOPHILUS HIGGONS”, in Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from...
5. (obsolete) One who censures or condemns.
   • Why that character [of the English Revolution] was so peculiar is sufficiently obvious, and yet seems not to have been always understood either by eulogists or by censors.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 661

   Synonyms:

   censurer

6. An algorithm that approves or rejects something on grounds of taste or morality etc.
   • I tried using a dirty word as my user name for the online game, but the censor rejected it.

See all 9 meanings of censor