extenuate
Other forms: extenuating; extenuated; extenuates
To extenuate is to make less of something or try to minimize its importance. The fact that you walked your little sister to school because she missed the bus might extenuate your teacher's response when you show up late.
Extenuate goes back to the Latin verb extenuāre, meaning "to thin" or "make thin." Someone might have a strong case against you for doing something wrong, but an added consideration can make it less serious, or extenuate, the circumstances that led to it. If you give an excuse that doesn't really relate to what was done, it won't extenuate the punishment. If something has a real bearing on what went wrong, it will extenuate the response, and you'll get in less trouble.
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lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of“The circumstances extenuate the crime”type of:apologise, apologize, excuse, justify, rationalise, rationalizedefend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
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Vocabulary lists containing extenuate
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In this comedy, two Athenian couples and a troupe of actors become unwitting pawns in a squabble between a fairy king and queen.
Influenced by the duplicitous Iago, Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, begins to doubt his wife's faithfulness.