extenuate

UK /ɪkˈstɛnjʊeɪt/US /ɪkˈstɛnjəˌweɪt/

verb 7
/ɪkˈstɛnjəˌwət/ adjective 3
forms 8

verb7

•
(formal) To make (something) less dense, or thinner; also, to lower the viscosity of (something).
- He the congealed vapors melts againe; / Extenuated into drops of Raine: / VVhich on the thirstie Earth in shovvers distill; / And all that life possesse vvith plenty fill. — 1638
(formal) To diminish or seek to diminish the extent or severity of (a crime, guilt, a mistake, or something else negative) by making apologies or excuses; to palliate.
•
(formal, no longer used) 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. — 1824
•
(formal, no longer used) 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. — 1599
(formal, no longer used) To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.
•
(formal, no longer used) 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: […] — 1593
•
(formal, no longer used) 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: […] — 1605

extenuate

UK /ɪkˈstɛnjʊət/US /ɪkˈstɛnjəˌwət/

adjective3

•
(no longer used) Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.
- It is powerfull in helping extenuat and leane persons who are troubled with difficultie of drawing their Brath: gives vigour and strength to vithered and debilitat members; […] — 1618
•
(no longer used) 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. — 1627
(no longer used) Reduced to poverty; impoverished.

forms

extenuated · extenuatedst · extenuating · extenuates · extenuateth · extenuatest · more extenuate · most extenuate