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censorious

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censorious

  • /sɛnˈsɔɹiəs/

Rhymes with -ɔːɹiəs

Where it comes from

From Latin cēnsōrius (“of or pertaining to a censor; severe”). In sense 3 ("tending to engage in or support censorship"), reanalyzed as censor + -ious.

adjective more censorious · most censorious

  1. Addicted to censure and scolding; apt to blame or condemn; severe in making remarks on others, or on their writings or manners. Be not too rigidly Cenſorious, / A ſtring may jarr in the beſt Maſters hand, / And the moſt skilfull Archer miſs his aim; / But in a Poem elegantly writ, / I will not quarrel with a ſlight miſtake, / Such as our Natures frailty may excuſe; […]

    Similar: condemnatory, overcritical

  2. Implying or expressing censure. censorious remarks

    Similar: condemning, disapprobatory, disapproving, censorious, condemnatory, damnatory, improbatory, reprehensive, reprehensory

  3. proscribed Tending to engage in or support censorship. Chick-Fil-A^([sic]) has survived and thrived because they served everyone AND refused to cater to the cancel culture. Now they’ve caved at the behest of the censorious Left. This is a terrible move and just the latest indicator that the center cannot hold.

    Similar: censorial

Opposite: noncensorious, uncensorious

Thesaurus

adjective

Opposite: noncensorious, uncensorious

Translations

Every language

adj apt to condemn

Españolcensorio, censorino
Deutschtadelsüchtig

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Cite this
MLA

"censorious." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/censorious. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

censorious. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/censorious

Chicago

"censorious." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/censorious.

BibTeX
@misc{censorious_2026,
  title = {censorious},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/censorious},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}