mitigate

Definition

To reduce, lessen, or decrease and thereby to make less severe or easier to bear.

Etymology

From Middle English mitigaten (“to relieve pain, soothe; (swelling) to abate; (hemorrhoids) to relieve; (the mind) to placate, appease; to end, check; to stop, cease”), from mitigat(e) (“mitigated, alleviated, relived”, also used as the past participle of mitigaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin mītigātus, the perfect passive participle of mītigō (“to make soft, ripe; to tame, pacify”), from mītis (“gentle, mild, ripe”) + -igō (“to do, make”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁y- (“mild, soft”).

Example Sentences

• "Measures are pursuing to prevent or mitigate the usual consequences of such outrages, and with the hope of their succeeding at least to avert general hostility."
• "But in yielding to it the retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its extent and in its character..."
• "Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder."

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