extenuation

Meaning

1. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
2. The action or process of making or becoming thin; an instance of this; a shrunken condition; leanness, emaciation.
3. Making less dense; rarefaction.
4. The action or process of making slender or diminishing in bulk; an instance of this.
5. The action of making less or weak; and instance of this; a weakening, impoverishment. Also, mitigation (of blame or punishment).
6. The action of representing (something) as slight and trifling; underrating; an instance of this, a plea to this end; a modification in terms.
7. A figure in which a term is used which, in contrast with the more fitting term it supplants, understates or seeks to diminish the significance of something.
8. The action of lessening, or seeking to lessen, the guilt of (an offence or fault) by alleging partial excuses; and instance or means of doing this; a plea in mitigation of censure.
9. Thin garments.

Etymology / origin

An adaptation of extenuātiōn-, the oblique stem of the Latin extenuātiō (“a thinning or diminishing”, “rarefaction”; rhetoric “a lessening”, “diminution”, “extenuation”), noun of action from extenuō (“to thin, reduce, or diminish”). Equivalent to extenuate + -ion. Compare the French exténuation.

Related words

Sources

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