From Latin expurgātus, perfect passive participle of expurgō (“purge, cleanse, purify”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛks.pɚ.ɡeɪt/

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expurgate (third-person singular simple present expurgates, present participle expurgating, simple past and past participle expurgated)

1. (transitive) To edit out (incorrect, offensive, or otherwise undesirable information) from a book or other publication; to cleanse; to purge.

   The publisher decided to expurgate the love scene from the book, to make it more child-friendly.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Texan”, in Catch-22 , New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 6:

     Yossarian was busy expurgating all but romance words from the letters when the chaplain sat down in a chair between the beds and asked him how he was feeling.

2. (transitive) To undertake editing out incorrect, offensive, or otherwise undesirable information from (a book or other publication); to cleanse; to purge.

   The publisher decided to expurgate the book, which meant removing the love scene.

• expurgator
• expurgatory

• bowdlerise

expūrgāte

1. vocative masculine singular of expūrgātus

expurgate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of expurgar combined with te