Definition of grawlix in English:
grawlix
nounplural noun grawlixes
A string of typographical symbols (such as %@$&*!) used in place of an obscenity, especially in comic strips.
‘the slur was replaced with a grawlix’- ‘The interview contains questionable content and some profanity, which we've altered as grawlix.’
- ‘Asterisks, grawlixes, or family-safe words wouldn't have worked.’
- ‘If he were alive today, he 'd be writing whole books in grawlixes’
- ‘Falling back on grawlixes, the column cites a study that found that "profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level".’
- ‘It's amusing to read this in a publication where the writer must resort to cartoon grawlixes to make his argument.’
- ‘Each story must contain (sans grawlix) the phrase "What the #@&% is that?".’
- ‘I would much rather say my favorite curse word than resort to using a grawlix.’
- ‘Grawlixes are highly inappropriate for any professional writing.’
- ‘If grawlixes were the rule, though, readers wouldn't have to work out the difference between, for example, b**** and b*******, and could use their own imagination.’
- ‘If the cartoonist had used swearwords instead of a grawlix, his cartoon wouldn't have been syndicated in hundreds of newspapers.’
Pronunciation
Origin
1960s coined by Mort Walker (1923–2018), US creator of the comic strip Beetle Bailey, apparently as a nonsense word.
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