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MITIGATE
mitigate
(verb) make less severe or harsh; “mitigating circumstances”
extenuate, palliate, mitigate
(verb) lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of; “The circumstances extenuate the crime”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
mitigate (third-person singular simple present mitigates, present participle mitigating, simple past and past participle mitigated)
(transitive) To reduce, lessen, or decrease; to make less severe or easier to bear.
(transitive) To downplay.
Usage notes
Particularly used as mitigate a problem or flaw. Contrast with ameliorate (“make better”).
This word is often misused to mean “operate” or “influence”. For this meaning, the correct word is militate, followed by “against” or “in favour of”. Mitigate is never followed by these expressions.
Synonyms
• (to reduce or lessen): alleviate, check, diminish, ease, lighten, mollify, pacify, palliate
Antonyms
• (to reduce or lessen): aggrandize, aggravate, exacerbate, incite, increase, intensify, irritate, worsen
Coordinate terms
• ameliorate
Source: Wiktionary
Mit"i*gate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mitigated; p. pr. & vb. n. Mitigating.] Etym: [L. mitigatus, p.p. of mitigare to soften, mitigate; mitis mild, soft + the root of agere to do, drive.]
1. To make less severe, intense, harsh, rigorous, painful, etc.; to soften; to meliorate; to alleviate; to diminish; to lessen; as, to mitigate heat or cold; to mitigate grief.
2. To make mild and accessible; to mollify; -- applied to persons. [Obs.] This opinion ... mitigated kings into companions. Burke.
Syn.
– To alleviate; assuage; allay. See Alleviate.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
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(adjective) not married or related to the unmarried state; “unmarried men and women”; “unmarried life”; “sex and the single girl”; “single parenthood”; “are you married or single?”
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