censor

censor
censorable, adj.censorial /sen sawr"ee euhl, -sohr"-/, censorian, adj.
/sen"seuhr/, n.
1. an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.
2. any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.
3. an adverse critic; faultfinder.
4. (in the ancient Roman republic) either of two officials who kept the register or census of the citizens, awarded public contracts, and supervised manners and morals.
5. (in early Freudian dream theory) the force that represses ideas, impulses, and feelings, and prevents them from entering consciousness in their original, undisguised forms.
v.t.
6. to examine and act upon as a censor.
7. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity as a censor.
[1525-35; < L censor, equiv. to cens(ere) to give as one's opinion, recommend, assess + -tor -TOR; -sor for *-stor by analogy with derivatives from dentals, as tonsor barber (see TONSORIAL)]

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In ancient eastern Asia, a government official whose primary duty was to scrutinize the conduct of officials and rulers.

During the Qin (221–206 BC) and Han (206 BC–AD 220) dynasties, the censor's function was to criticize the emperor's acts, but in later periods the censorate was expanded and became an instrument for imperial control of the bureaucracy. Censors checked important documents, supervised construction projects, reviewed judicial proceedings, kept watch over state property, and looked for cases of subversion and corruption.

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▪ East Asian government
      in traditional East Asia, governmental official charged primarily with the responsibility for scrutinizing and criticizing the conduct of officials and rulers.

      The office originated in China, where, under the Qin (Qin dynasty) (221–206 BC) and Han (Han dynasty) (206 BC–AD 220) dynasties, the censor's function was to criticize the emperor's acts; but, as the imperial office gained prestige, the censorate became mainly an instrument for imperial control of the bureaucracy, investigating acts of official corruption and misgovernment for the emperor. By the Tang dynasty (618–907), the censorate, or Yushitai, as it was then known, had thus become a major organ of the government. It expanded even further during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and reached the apogee of its power during the Ming (Ming dynasty) (1368–1644) and Qing (Qing dynasty) (1644–1911) dynasties, when the imperial institution became extremely autocratic. Retitled the Duchayuan in 1380, it was then a huge governmental bureau controlled by two chief censors and composed of four subdivisions.

      The censors checked important documents, supervised construction projects, reviewed judicial proceedings, kept watch over state property, and maintained a general lookout for cases of subversion and corruption. Usually recruited from the civil bureaucracy, the censors were generally younger men of relatively low rank who were tenured for a maximum of nine years, after which they resumed their former posts. Their chief power derived from their direct access to the emperor. Some censors, however, were punished for their overzealous criticisms of favoured imperial policies, and this induced others to mute their criticisms and ignore many cases of misgovernment. The major effect of the office was to spread fear throughout the bureaucracy, preventing officials from instituting any kind of radically new or innovative policies.

      Although the functions of the censorate were maintained in the Chinese Nationalist and, to a lesser extent, the Chinese Communist governments, the institution effectively ended in China with the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

      A censorate apparatus was adopted by all the East and Central Asian states that copied the Chinese bureaucratic system. In Korea, because of the relatively weak position of the Korean king and the strength of the aristocracy, the censorate became a highly important organ that not only scrutinized corruption but directly criticized the policies of the monarch. There the original boards of censors (Sahŏnbu and Saganwŏn) were supplemented by the Hongmun'gwan (Office of Special Counselors) and Kyŏngyŏn (Office of Royal Lectures), which eventually became a forum for evaluating state policy and the conduct of the king and officials.

      The Tokugawa government (1603–1867) of Japan instituted a censorial system (metsuke) in the 17th century for the surveillance of affairs in every one of the feudal fiefs (han) into which the country was divided. Many daimyos (lords of fiefs) were transferred to smaller han or lost their domains altogether as a result of the unfavourable judgments of the censorate.

▪ ancient Roman official
plural  Censors, or Censores,  

      in ancient Rome, a magistrate whose original functions of registering citizens and their property were greatly expanded to include supervision of senatorial rolls and moral conduct. Censors also assessed property for taxation and contracts, penalized moral offenders by removing their public rights, such as voting and tribe membership, and presided at the lustrum ceremonies of purification at the close of each census. The censorship was instituted in 443 BC and discontinued in 22 BC, when the emperors assumed censorial powers.

      The censors, who always numbered two, were elected normally at five-year intervals in the Comitia Centuriata (one of the assemblies in which the Roman people voted). Plebeians became eligible in 351 BC for the originally patrician office. Judgments were passed only with the agreement of both incumbents, and the death or abdication of one resulted in the retirement of the other.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Censor — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Censor puede referir a: Un censor romano era un magistrado de la antigua Roma a cuyo cargo estaba formar el censo de la ciudad y velar sobre las costumbres de los ciudadanos. En Derecho, un censor es una persona que… …   Wikipedia Español

  • censor — censor, ra sustantivo masculino,f. 1. Persona que, por orden del gobierno, juzga si es conveniente difundir ciertas noticias o ciertas obras artísticas: censor de cine, censor de prensa, censor de teatro. 2. Persona que es muy crítica con las… …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • Censor — may refer to:*Censorship, the control of speech and other forms of human expression *Roman censor, a magistrate for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, etc. *Censor Librorum, a Church official who approves and, if necessary,… …   Wikipedia

  • censor — cen·sor 1 vt: to examine (as a publication or film) in order to suppress or delete any contents considered objectionable censor 2 n: one that censors Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • censor — censor, ra (Del lat. censor, ōris). 1. adj. Que censura. U. t. c. s.) 2. m. y f. En algunos regímenes políticos, funcionario encargado de revisar todo tipo de publicaciones o películas, mensajes publicitarios, etc., y de proponer, en su caso, que …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • Censor — Cen sor, n. [L. censor, fr. censere to value, tax.] 1. (Antiq.) One of two magistrates of Rome who took a register of the number and property of citizens, and who also exercised the office of inspector of morals and conduct. [1913 Webster] 2. One …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • CENSOR — Magistratris nomen, apud Romanos, qui morum praefecti, hona in censum redegerunt, Senatores deposuerunt, Principem Senatus creârunt, familiarum inspectores, luxus castigatores, et c. Bini primitus, quorum nnus l atricius, alter ex plebe,… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • censor — |ô| s. m. 1. Funcionário encarregado da censura de obras literárias, artísticas, etc. 2.  [Antigo] [História] Magistrado romano que recenseava a população e zelava pelos bons costumes. • adj. s. m. 3. Que ou aquele que censura. = CENSURADOR,… …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • Censor — (lat.), 1) eigentlich Beurtheiler, Schätzer, Taxirer; 2) (röm. Ant.), in Rom waren die Censoren eine der höchsten Staatsbehörden (Magistratus majores), welche die Staatsfinanzen u. das Sittenrichteramt verwalteten; sie wurden früher nur aus… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • censor — Persona que comprueba o evalúa libros, publicaciones periódicas, representaciones, obras de arte, conferencias u otras formas de expresión para suprimir ciertos tipos de información. Diccionario Mosby Medicina, Enfermería y Ciencias de la Salud,… …   Diccionario médico

  • censor — censor, ra adjetivo y sustantivo crítico, murmurador, opinante. * * * Sinónimos: ■ interventor, examinador, corrector, dictaminador ■ murmurador, criti …   Diccionario de sinónimos y antónimos

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