censura

See also: censùra and censurá

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [sənˈsu.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [senˈsu.ɾa]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Hyphenation: cen‧su‧ra

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censura f (plural censures)

1. censorship

Related terms

• censor

Etymology 2

Verb

censura

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “censura”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “censura” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “censura”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “censura”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.sy.ʁa/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Homophone: censuras

Verb

censura

1. third-person singular past historic of censurer

Galician

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /θenˈsuɾa/ [θenˈs̺u.ɾɐ]

• IPA^(key): (standard) /θenˈsuɾa/ [θenˈs̺u.ɾɐ]
• IPA^(key): (seseo) /senˈsuɾa/ [senˈsu.ɾɐ]

 

• IPA^(key): /θɛnˈsuɾa/ [θɛnˈs̺u.ɾɐ]

• IPA^(key): (standard) /θɛnˈsuɾa/ [θɛnˈs̺u.ɾɐ]
• IPA^(key): (seseo) /sɛnˈsuɾa/ [sɛnˈsu.ɾɐ]

• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Hyphenation: cen‧su‧ra

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Latin cēnseō

Proto-Indo-European *-tew-?

Proto-Indo-European *-r-eh₂?

Latin -tūra

Latin cēnsūrader.

Galician censura

Derived from Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censura f (plural censuras)

1. censure
2. censorship

Etymology 2

Verb

censura

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “censura”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “censura”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃenˈsu.ra/
• Rhymes: -ura
• Hyphenation: cen‧sù‧ra

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censura f (plural censure)

1. censorship

   Synonyms: controllo, critica

2. censure

Derived terms

• autocensura

Related terms

• autocensura
• censore
• censorio
• censurare

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

censura

1. inflection of censurare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “censura”, in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• “censura” in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• “censura” in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• “censura” in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• “censura” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• censura in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• “censura”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin cēnseō

Proto-Indo-European *-tew-?

Proto-Indo-European *-r-eh₂?

Latin -tūra

Latin cēnsūra

From cēnseō +‎ -tūra. Furthermore the outcome of censor +‎ -tūra.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kẽːˈsuː.ra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃenˈsuː.ra]

Noun

cēnsūra f (genitive cēnsūrae); first declension

1. The office of a censor; censorship
2. censure, judgment, criticism, opinion
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.69–70:

     ‘verba quis audēret cōram sene digna rubōre
     dīcere? cēnsūram longa senecta dabat.’

     ‘‘[Back then] who, in the presence of an older man, would dare to speak words fit to blush? Old age was granted censure.’’
     (The muse Urania is speaking about a former time. Here, ‘‘censuram’’ may mean informal ‘‘censure,’’ or could refer to formal ‘‘censorship’’ by a senior official elected as a Roman censor.)

3. a severe judgment
4. appraisal, oversight, control

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cēnsūra	cēnsūrae
genitive	cēnsūrae	cēnsūrārum
dative	cēnsūrae	cēnsūrīs
accusative	cēnsūram	cēnsūrās
ablative	cēnsūrā	cēnsūrīs
vocative	cēnsūra	cēnsūrae

Descendants

• → Belarusian: цэнзу́ра (cenzúra)
• → Bulgarian: цѐнзура (cènzura)
• → Czech: cenzura
• → English: censure
• → Estonian: tsensuur
• → French: censure
  • → Persian: سانسور (sânsur)
  • → Turkish: sansür
• → German: Zensur
• → Hungarian: cenzúra
• → Italian: censura
• → Latvian: cenzūra
• → Lithuanian: cenzūra
• → Luxembourgish: Zensur
• → Macedonian: цензу́ра (cenzúra)
• → Occitan: censura
• → Polish: cenzura
• → Portuguese: censura
• → Romanian: cenzură
• → Russian: цензу́ра (cenzúra)
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: цензу́ра
  • Latin script: cenzúra
• → Slovak: cenzúra
• → Slovene: cenzura
• → Spanish: censura
• → Ukrainian: цензу́ра (cenzúra)

References

• “censura”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “censura”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "censura", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “censura”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to perform the censors' duties: censuram agere, gerere
    
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “censure”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sẽˈsu.ɾɐ/

• Rhymes: -uɾɐ
• Hyphenation: cen‧su‧ra

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Latin cēnseō

Proto-Indo-European *-tew-?

Proto-Indo-European *-r-eh₂?

Latin -tūra

Latin cēnsūralbor.

Portuguese censura

Learned borrowing from Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censura f (uncountable)

1. censure
2. censorship

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

censura

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “censura”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “censura”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2026
• “censura” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “censura”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “censura”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “censura”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θenˈsuɾa/ [θẽnˈsu.ɾa] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /senˈsuɾa/ [sẽnˈsu.ɾa] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Syllabification: cen‧su‧ra

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Latin cēnseō

Proto-Indo-European *-tew-?

Proto-Indo-European *-r-eh₂?

Latin -tūra

Latin cēnsūralbor.

Spanish censura

Learned borrowing from Latin cēnsūra.

Noun

censura f (plural censuras)

1. censure
2. censorship

   sin censura ― uncensored

Derived terms

• autocensura
• censura de cuentas
• censurar
• moción de censura
• voto de censura

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

censura

1. inflection of censurar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “censura”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025