extenuate
Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakenedOf a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.
» Those are extenuating circumstances.
Это смягчающие обстоятельства. — Wezel
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(obsolete)Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.
(obsolete)Of a quality or thing: lessened, weakened.
(obsolete)Reduced to poverty; impoverished.
Examples
2 sentencesThose are extenuating circumstances.
ruЭто смягчающие обстоятельства. — Wezel
Extenuating circumstances led the judge to pass a more lenient sentence.
Origin
From Middle English extenuat (“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”), from Latin extenuātus (“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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
more extenuate, most extenuate| Comparative | more extenuate Lesson |
|---|---|
| Superlative | most extenuate Lesson |
regular
Lessons for this word
2 lessons- A2Comparatives — Because it has a comparative form
- A2Superlatives — Because it has a superlative form