extenuation

noun

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.

1. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “This mightily helpeth the extenuation of members.”

   “A yong man…had an extenuation for want of nourishment in his Limbs.”

2. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “Winds proceed from extenuation of the Air, by the Sun.”

3. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “All Dilatation is some degree of Extenuation.”

   “The Sea is the same at all seasons; what it gets by Rivers and showers, losing by exhalations and extenuations through the excessive heats…within the Torrid Zone.”

4. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “The saide citie is much decaid…not a little to the extenuacion of that part of this realme.”

   “Such extenuation let me begge, As in reproofe of many Tales deuis’d…I may…Finde pardon on my true submission.”

5. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “Sometimes…wee humble ourselves lower than there is cause…And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selves.”

   “Through their…extenuation [of their grievance], wretchedness and peevishness they undo themselves.”

6. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “We call him the Disabler or figure of Extenuation.”

   “When for extenuation sake we use a lighter and more easie word or terme then the matter requires.”

7. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “Extenuation, by which the Crime, that seemed great, is made lesse.”

   “He…was to find excuses and extenuations for sins.”

8. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.

   “They were clad in silken extenuations from the throat to the feet.”

   “One side wore…extenuations of a…green colour.”