extenuating

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

extenuating

Where it comes from

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.

verb

gerund, participle, present present participle and gerund of extenuate

adjective more extenuating · most extenuating

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).

Translations

Every language

adj Translations

Español	atenuante, extenuante, extenuador
Français	atténuant

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"extenuating." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/extenuating. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

extenuating. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/extenuating

Chicago

"extenuating." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/extenuating.

BibTeX

@misc{extenuating_2026,
  title = {extenuating},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/extenuating},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}