attenuate

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“
It will attenuate, at least with respect to him, the severity of simple minds.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. transitive verb To make slender, fine, or small: The drought attenuated the river to a narrow channel.
  2. transitive verb To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: Medicine attenuated the fever's effect.
  3. transitive verb To lessen the density of; rarefy.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

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Examples (50)

  • Just below the screen is a row of buttons for power / attenuate, volume control, map, display, skip forward / back, and open.
  • In order to argue for development, one has to attenuate and weaken the manifestation of the idea in its origin or source to support the later amplification of it. —  Energetic Procession
  • The construction and shape of the facility may attenuate 2.4 GHz signals more than 5 GHz signals, which can give 5 GHz signals an edge over 2.4 GHz signals. —  Network News
  • What he says in effect is, not that paleontological evidence is against him, but that it is not distinctly in his favor; and without attempting to attenuate the fact, he accounts for it by the scantiness and the imperfection of that evidence. —  Planet Atheism
  • It might not work, but it has little downside risk and might, if not immediately successful, attenuate the ferocity of the attacks and might in the long run hasten the end of the site, by causing its operator's interest to wane. by anon - Apr 6th, 2009 @ 9: 18pm —  Techdirt
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin attenuāre, attenuāt- : ad-, ad- + tenuāre, to make thin (from tenuis, thin; see ten- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Latin attenuatus, past participle of attenuare (later Italian attenuare = Portuguese attenuar = Spanish Provencal atenuar = French atténuer), make thin, weaken, lessen, from ad, to, + tenuare, make thin, from tenuis, thin, = English thin, q. v.
  2. from Latin attenuatus, past participle: see the verb.
 

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/əˈtɛnjuət/
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