English Meaning & Definitions
Describing a text, film, or other work that has had parts removed or modified because they are considered offensive, vulgar, or indecent.
- “The students were assigned a bowdlerized edition of 'The Canterbury Tales' that omitted the more ribald passages.”
- “Many fans prefer the original director's cut over the bowdlerized version shown on network television.”
The past tense or past participle of bowdlerize: to remove material considered offensive from a book, play, or film, often resulting in a weaker or less effective work.
- “The publisher bowdlerized the biography to avoid potential lawsuits and public scandal.”
- “The script was heavily bowdlerized by the studio before it was approved for a general audience.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “bowdlerized”.
The term is derived from the name of Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), an English physician who published 'The Family Shakspeare' in 1818. Bowdler's edition of Shakespeare's plays was specifically edited to remove any words or expressions that he deemed 'unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies.' While Bowdler intended to make literature more accessible to families, his name became a permanent eponym for prudish censorship and the sanitization of artistic works.
Think of Thomas Bowdler 'bowling' over the naughty words in a book to knock them out.
Frequently Asked Questions About “bowdlerized”
1. What is the meaning of “bowdlerized” in English?
In English, bowdlerized (adjective) is defined as: “Describing a text, film, or other work that has had parts removed or modified because they are considered offensive, vulgar, or indecent.”.
2. How do you use “bowdlerized” in a sentence?
“The students were assigned a bowdlerized edition of 'The Canterbury Tales' that omitted the more ribald passages.”
3. What are English synonyms of “bowdlerized”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “bowdlerized”?
The term is derived from the name of Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), an English physician who published 'The Family Shakspeare' in 1818. Bowdler's edition of Shakespeare's plays was specifically edited to remove any words or expressions that he deemed 'unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies.' While Bowdler intended to make literature more accessible to families, his name became a permanent eponym for prudish censorship and the sanitization of artistic works.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.