extenuating
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L336638 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
adj
Etymology: From Latin ex (“to delete, to cross out”) and tenuatus, past participle of tenuare (“to make thin”) + Middle English -ing. By surface analysis, ex- + tenuate + -ing.
- That attenuates or lessens the seriousness of something, , e.g. by providing a mitigating excuse for it.
“In the instant case, testimony has been offered that there were extenuating circumstances which might have made it impossible for the Hospital to comply with the time limit (Union office closed on April 4, 1974, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March).”
verb
Etymology: From Latin ex (“to delete, to cross out”) and tenuatus, past participle of tenuare (“to make thin”) + Middle English -ing. By surface analysis, ex- + tenuate + -ing.
- present participle and gerund of extenuate