censorship
noun
Simple meaning
The use of state or group power to control freedom of expression or press.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehnsershipSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɛnsɚʃɪp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The use of state or group power to control freedom of expression or press, such as passing laws to prevent undesirable media from being published or propagated.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The use of state or group power to control freedom of expression or press, such as passing laws to prevent undesirable media from being published or propagated.
Used this way, censorship is a specialist word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use censorship
- “The news report faced censorship from the government before it could be published.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.