censure
UK/ˈsɛn.ʃə/US/ˈsɛn.ʃɚ/
censure noun: the act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
Noun
censure (countable and uncountable, plural censures)
- The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
- 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.1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter I, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC
- Both the censure and the praise were merited.1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green...
- Synonyms:
- admonishment, dispraise, disapprobation, attainder, attainture, attaintment, blame, condemnation, condemning, damnation
- Official reprimand.
- After his actions were challenged by foreign governments and Parliament initially tried to put a stop to his action, Denman returned home and argued his case with enough force that, by 1848, the Royal Navy was handed active permission and encouragement to raze every last slave factory they could...2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 9:45 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024
- A judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand; condemnatory judgment.
- He that hath past / So many Cenſures is novv come at laſt / To haue your princely Eares, grace you him; […]c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], “The Prologue Spoken at Court”, in Tho[mas] Heywood, editor, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for...
- [E]xcommunication […] being the chief ecclesiastical censure1679–1715, 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, […]
- Synonyms:
- discipline, punishment, sanction, correction, penalty, punition, sentence
- A judgment (either favorable or unfavorable); an opinion.
- Take each man's cenſure, but reſerve thy judgment.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...
- Synonyms:
- conclusion, idea, view, award, choice, opinion, decision, deduction, determination, ergotism
Verb
censure (third-person singular simple present censures, present participle censuring, simple past and past participle censured)
- To criticize harshly.
- I may be censured that nature thus gives way to loyalty.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...
- The Woodwalton signalman, Rose, who was severely censured in Captain Tyler's report, behaved with great negligence.1946 January and February, T. S. Lascelles, “A Series of False Signals”, in Railway Magazine, page 43
- To formally rebuke.
- The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, a key lawmaker in Democrats’ congressional investigations into former President Donald Trump during his presidency.2023 June 21, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, “House votes to censure Democratic congressman who led Trump investigations”, in CNN
- Synonyms:
- reprimand
- To form or express a judgment in regard to; to estimate; to judge.
- Should I say more, you might well censure me a flatterer.1625, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act I...
censure meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
censure in Hindi
- censure, harsh criticism, condemnation
- निंदा nindā
- censure; curse; opprobrium, condemnation
- धिक्कार dhikkār
- to censure, revile
- लताड़ना latāṛnā
- censure, blame
- अपवाद apvād
censure in Tamil
- கண்டனம், கண்டனம் செய், கண்டி, கண்டித்து விடு, பழிப்பு
censure in Urdu
- ہجو, ملامت, نفرین, نکوہش, طعن, ذم
censure in Bengali
- censure, contempt, abuse, reproach
- ধিক্কার dhikkar
More languagesFewer languages
- censure in Malayalam
- ശാസിക്കുക, ഔദ്യോഗികമായി ശാസിക്കുക, പരസ്യമായി ശാസിക്കുക, കർശനമായി താക്കീതു ചെയ്യുക
- censure in Kannada
- ಪರಲೆ, ಹರಲೆ, ಟೀಕೆ, ಆಕ್ಷೇಪಣೆ
- censure in Odia
- କାଇଦା kāidā
- censure in Sanskrit
- निन्दा nindā
- censure in Tagalog
- pula, pulaan
- censure in Arabic
- لَامَ lāma, اِسْتَنْكَرَ istankara, اِسْتَهْجَنَ istahjana
- censure in Indonesian
- mengecam
- censure in Thai
- โจมตี joom-dtii
Examples of censure in a sentence
- The mayor is situated between probable censure and possible recall.
- The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep.
- He complained of being 'lugged and worried' like a baited bear and exposed to 'splenish censure'.
Synonyms of censure
- admonishment
- dispraise
- disapprobation
- blame
- condemnation
- condemning
- damnation
- disapproval
- improbation
- reprehension
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of censure
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | censures |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | censures |
| present participle | censuring |
| past participle | censured |
| past | censured |
Origin of censure
From 1350–1400 Middle English censure, from Old French, from Latin censūra (“censor's office or assessment”), from censēre (“to consider, to assess, to value, to judge, to tax, etc.”).
Words formed from censure
Questions about censure
- What does censure mean?
- Censure means the act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
- What is censure in Hindi?
- Censure in Hindi is निंदा (nindā), धिक्कार (dhikkār), लताड़ना (latāṛnā). See Censure meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is censure?
- Censure can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce censure?
- Censure is pronounced /ˈsɛn.ʃə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of censure?
- The plural of censure is censures.
Words near censure in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: censure (page history and authors); अपवाद (Hindi) (page history and authors); censure (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); censure (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ধিক্কার (Bengali) (page history and authors); censure (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); censure (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); କାଇଦା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-censure.ogg.
Cite this entry: “censure.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/censure. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.