mitigate
/ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms mitigates mitigating mitigated
- verb (transitive, of problems or flaws) To reduce, lessen, or decrease and thereby to make less severe or easier to bear.
- verb (transitive) To downplay.
- verb (intransitive, proscribed) To give force or effect toward preventing a problem. “We've mitigated against the chance of flooding.”
- adjective (obsolete) Mitigated, alleviated.
Synonyms
alleviate check diminish ease lighten mollify pacify palliate extenuate militate
Antonyms
aggrandize aggravate exacerbate incite increase intensify irritate worsen
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”).
From Middle English mitigat(e) (“mitigated”, also used as the past participle of mitigaten and of mitigate in Early Modern English), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make less severe, intense, harsh, rigorous, painful, etc.; to soften; to meliorate; to alleviate; to diminish; to lessen; as, to mitigate heat or cold; to mitigate grief.
- verb To make mild and accessible; to mollify; --applied to persons.
Etymology [L. mitigatus, p.p. of mitigare to soften, mitigate; mitis mild, soft + the root of agere to do, drive.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mitigate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details