sanitize

present singular third person sanitizes · participle present sanitizing · participle past sanitized · past sanitized · alternative sanitise

1. transitiveTo rid of microorganisms by cleaning or disinfecting.
2. broadlytransitiveTo make something, such as a dramatic work, more acceptable by removing potentially offensive material.

   Near-synonym: bowdlerize

   2 more examples

   And yet for all that, the filmmakers were in fact trying to sanitize Mitchell’s novel.

   2007 November 4, Stephen L. Carter, “Almost a Gentleman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Both caricatures are appropriately mean, but if the show is going to continue using them, it needs to take care not to sanitize the real people, as it has done with dangerously incompetent and malicious figures in the past, such as George W Bush or Trump himself.

   2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: bowdlerize

3. transitivecomputingTo filter (text) to ensure it does not contain any characters that will cause problems for or be interpreted in an adverse way by the receiving system.

   Remember to sanitize your query parameters to avoid SQL injection exploits.

4. transitivecomputingTo remove sensitive or personal data from (a database or file).
5. transitiveTo revise (a document) in order to prevent identification of the sources.