Expurger

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A person who removes objectionable or sensitive material from texts, films, or other media to make them more acceptable or appropriate for certain audiences
2. An individual responsible for editing or censoring content by deleting or altering parts deemed inappropriate or offensive
3. Someone who cleanses or purges written or recorded material by excising elements considered unsuitable or harmful to particular readers or viewers

Etymology: Censors have always described their work as cleaning, and this word shows it. "Expurge" comes from Latin "expurgare," meaning "to purge out" or "cleanse thoroughly," built from "ex-" (out) and "purgare" (to cleanse). "Purgare" is itself rooted in "purus," "pure." To expurge a text was to scrub it of supposedly impure matter, and an expurger was the person who did the scrubbing. Catholic church authorities used expurgatory indexes, lists of books that could be read only once specified passages had been removed. The "-er" ending marks the agent, the person doing the action, as in "reader" or "baker," so the word names the official who carried out that cutting.

Synonyms: censor, redactor, editor, cleanser, bowdlerizer