censere

Censere is a Latin verb meaning to think, judge, estimate, or decree; to approve, deem, or consider. It belongs to the second conjugation; the present active infinitive is censere, and the principal parts are censeo, censere, censui, census. In English, the root yields several common words such as censure, censor, census, and censorship.

Etymology and related forms: Censere gives rise to the noun census (the act or result of counting or assessing a population or property) and to the office of the Roman censors. The word censor is derived from the same root; censure as a word for disapproval comes via French censure from Latin censūra, illustrating a semantic shift from estimation to judgment or evaluation. In Rome, the censor was a magistrate who conducted the census and supervised public morals, among other duties.

Usage in Latin: Censeo is used to express opinion or to propose a course of action, often in deliberative or formal contexts such as political decisions. The infinitive censere is the dictionary form of the verb and appears in various tense forms in actual Latin texts. The verb can convey judging, deeming, or deciding that something should be the case.

Modern relevance: In scholarly Latin, censere appears across tenses and voices, illustrating how a single root gave rise to a family of terms in English and other languages. The connection between census, censor, and censorship helps explain familiar terms related to counting, evaluation, and control of information within legal, administrative, or ethical contexts.