bowdlerize

/bˈəʊdəlɹˌaɪz/

/bˈoʊdəlɹˌaɪz/

[verb]

to bowdlerize

[VERB]

MAIN VERB

to delete the sections or words that are believed to be offensive or inappropriate from a play, movie, book, etc.

synonyms : bowdlerise

castrate

expurgate

shorten

Examples

1. but they read - they tend to read bowdlerized versions.

2. And this is why, just as popular characters like the Cat in the Hat, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny naturalize their own minstrel origins, so bowdlerized versions of classic books normalize the racism that revisionists aspire to expunge.

3. The bulk of the mythology didn't get written down for a full six hundred years, and by then it was already so bowdlerized that there's basically no available primary sources anywhere.

4. So, there was a guy, Bowdler I think was his name, who tried to clean them up for kids, and so the term bowdlerized is anyone who takes - Stan: OK.