extenuation

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances
  2. noun to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

mitigation

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