Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a quality or thing: lessened, weakened.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Reduced to poverty; impoverished.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make (something) less dense, or thinner; also, to lower the viscosity of (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make (someone or something) slender or thin; to emaciate, to waste.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, formal, obsolete, specifically, transitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To beat or draw (a metal object, etc.) out so as to lessen the thickness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To reduce the quality or quantity of (something); to lessen or weaken the force of (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mitigate
Antonyms: aggravate
verb
To degrade (someone); to detract from (someone's qualities, reputation, etc.); to depreciate, to disparage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: formal, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: palliate, mitigate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: apologize, apologise, excuse, justify, rationalize, rationalise
History
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 (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out-, thoroughly”) + tenuō (“to enfeeble, weaken, wear down; to lessen, reduce; to make thin”), from tenuis (“fine, slender, thin; feeble, weak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tenh2- (“to extend, stretch; thin”)) + -ō (first conjugation-verb forming suffix). Compare attenuate.
From Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”) (more at etymology 1), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Across languages
10 source translations are retained for this English entry.
