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“extenuates”
extenuate (verb), extenuates; extenuated; extenuating
1. To make a mistake or wrongdoing seem less serious than it first appeared to be: To extenuate something by representing it as being less blameworthy or to make excuses for doing it.
2. To cause something; such as, a fault, offense, etc. to be less significant: Henry was not fined by the police for speeding because he had to get to the hospital as quickly as possible; so, his action extenuated or justified the reason for his driving so fast.
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2. To cause something; such as, a fault, offense, etc. to be less significant: Henry was not fined by the police for speeding because he had to get to the hospital as quickly as possible; so, his action extenuated or justified the reason for his driving so fast.
Extenuate should be used about a situation that is minimized, not that of the person.
3. Etymology: from Latin extenuat-, past participle stem of extenuare, "to lessen" from ex-, "out" + tenuare, "to make thin, to diminish, to lessen"; from tenuis, "thin".Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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This entry is located in the following unit:
tend-, tendo-, ten-, teno-, tenot-, tenonto-, tens-, tent-, -tend, -tension, -tent, -tense, -tensive, -tentious
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