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extenuate

verb
/ɪkˈstɛnjʊeɪt/UK/ɪkˈstɛnjəˌweɪt/US

Etymology

From Middle English extenuat (“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”), from Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”), perfect passive participle of extenuō (“to diminish, reduce, thin”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out-, thoroughly”) + tenuō (“to enfeeble, weaken, wear down; to lessen, reduce; to make thin”) from tenuō, itself from tenuis (“fine, slender, thin; feeble, weak”) + -ō (first conjugation-verb forming suffix) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- (“to extend, stretch; thin”)). Compare attenuate.

  1. derived from *tenh₂-✻ — “to extend, stretch; thin”
  2. derived from extenuātus — “diminished, reduced, thinned”
  3. inherited from extenuat — “(medicine) made thin, emaciated”

Definitions

  1. To make (something) less dense, or thinner

    To make (something) less dense, or thinner; also, to lower the viscosity of (something).

  2. To make (someone or something) slender or thin

    To make (someone or something) slender or thin; to emaciate, to waste.

    • It was deemed meritorious to disfigure the body by neglect and filth, to extenuate it by fasting and watchfulness, to lacerate it with stripes, and to fret the wounds with cilices of horsehair.
    • Mamma's reception of her, just off the long winter journey, and extenuated with fatigues and sickly chagrins, was of the most cutting cruelty: "What do you want here? What is a medicant like you come hither for?"

  3. To underestimate or understate the importance of (something)

    To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.

  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. To beat or draw (a metal object, etc.) out so as to lessen the thickness.

      • [T]he Chinians can very cunningly beate and extenuate gold into plates and leaues.
      • His [the sawfish's] Trunk or Body preſently behind his Head, becomes five inches broad, and about three high; from whence it is again extenuated all the way to the end of his Tail.

    2. To reduce the quality or quantity of (something)

      To reduce the quality or quantity of (something); to lessen or weaken the force of (something).

      • Arte amplifieth or extenuateth at occaſion: the reſidue is the liberality of the pen, or the poyſon of the inke: […]
      • For you, faire Hermia, looke you arme your ſelfe, / To fit your fancies, to your fathers vvill; / Or elſe, the Lavv of Athens yeelds you vp / (VVhich by no meanes vve may extenuate) / To death, or to a vovve of ſingle life.

    3. To degrade (someone)

      To degrade (someone); to detract from (someone's qualities, reputation, etc.); to depreciate, to disparage.

      • [I]t hath beene ordinarie vvith politique men to extenuate and diſable learned men by the names of Pedantes: […]
      • Nor can vve extenuate the valour of ancient Martyrs, vvho contemned death in the uncomfortable ſcene of their lives, […]
      • Juſt are thy vvays, / Righteous are thy Decrees on all thy VVorks; / VVho can extenuate thee?

    4. Of a person

      Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.

    5. Of a quality or thing

      Of a quality or thing: lessened, weakened.

      • VVee repreſent Small Sounds as Great and Deepe; Likevviſe Great Sounds, Extenuate and Sharpe; VVee make diuerſe Tremblings and VVarblings of Sounds, vvhich in their Originall are Entire.

    6. Reduced to poverty

      Reduced to poverty; impoverished.

The neighborhood

Derived

extenuated, extenuating, extenuating circumstance, extenuative, extenuator, extenuatory

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for extenuate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA