Intended for or relating to the removal of offensive, obscene, or heretical material from texts.
From Late Latin expurgatorius, combining expurgare with the -ory suffix. Semantically equivalent to expurgative but with slightly more formal or legal connotations in historical contexts.
The word expurgatory appears frequently in 16th-17th century publishing decrees—it was the official term used when authorities mandated that books be 'expurgatory edited' before circulation, giving the process a pseudo-scientific legitimacy.
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