extenuation

plural extenuations · alternative extenuacion

1. The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
   1. countableuncountableThe action or process of making or becoming thin; an instance of this; a shrunken condition; leanness, emaciation.

      Some pallid from extenuation.

      1828, “Biog.”, in Ann. Reg., page 474/2

      5 more examples

      This mightily helpeth the extenuation of members.

      1576, Jewell of Health, Baker, page 171 a

      A yong man…had an extenuation for want of nourishment in his Limbs.

      1655, Culpepper, Riverius, i.v.19

      Galen commends tepid Baths for…curing all Extenuations.

      1707, Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, page 183

      The extenuation is her only bad symptom.

      1781 October 27, Johnson, Let. Mrs. Thrale

      The female…exhibited…some symptoms of extenuation.

      1825, Betrothed, Walter Scott, section XXX

   2. countableobsoleteuncountableMaking less dense; rarefaction.

      Winds proceed from extenuation of the Air, by the Sun.

      1655–60, Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), page 64/2

   3. countableobsoleteuncountableThe action or process of making slender or diminishing in bulk; an instance of this.

      All Dilatation is some degree of Extenuation.

      1619, John Donne, Serm., xiv, page 140

      2 more examples

      The Sea is the same at all seasons; what it gets by Rivers and showers, losing by exhalations and extenuations through the excessive heats…within the Torrid Zone.

      1665, Sir T. Herbert, Trav., published 1677, page 186

      Gregory the Great…says that God penetrates everything without extenuation.

      1777, Joseph Priestley, chapter XIX, in Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit, volume I, published 1782, page 229

   4. countableobsoleteuncountableThe action of making less or weak; and instance of this; a weakening, impoverishment. Also, mitigation (of blame or punishment).

      What Deeds of Charity we have to alledge in Extenuation of our Punishment.

      1707, Atterbury, Serm. v. (1723), volume II, page 159

      3 more examples

      The saide citie is much decaid…not a little to the extenuacion of that part of this realme.

      1542–3, Act 34–5 Hen. VIII, c. 18

      Such extenuation let me begge, As in reproofe of many Tales deuis’d…I may…Finde pardon on my true submission.

      c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 22

      The gallantry of Henry’s heroique spirit tended somewhat to the…extenuation of Charles his glory.

      1654, H. L’Estrange, Chas. I, published 1655, page 1

   5. countableuncountableThe action of representing (something) as slight and trifling; underrating; an instance of this, a plea to this end; a modification in terms.

      The utmost they allow is an extenuation of its absolute necessity.

      1859, John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, ii. (1865), page 13/2

      4 more examples

      Sometimes…wee humble ourselves lower than there is cause…And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selves.

      1614, Bp. Hall, Recoll. Treat., page 209

      Through their…extenuation [of their grievance], wretchedness and peevishness they undo themselves.

      1621, Anat. Mel., Burton, ii.i.iv.ii.228

      Many died of it every day, so that now all our extenuations abated.

      1722, Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year, published 1840, page 6

      The simple matter-of-fact style of the narrative is, from its unobtrusive character, more adapted for spiritual reading than the views and generalisations, and prologetic extenuations of more recent biographers.

      1873, R.F. Calixte, translated by A.V.S. Sligo, The Life of the Venerable Anna Maria Taigi, page 303

   6. countableobsoleterhetoricuncountableA figure in which a term is used which, in contrast with the more fitting term it supplants, understates or seeks to diminish the significance of something.

      1823, in Crabb, Technol. Dict.

      2 more examples

      We call him the Disabler or figure of Extenuation.

      1589, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.), page 227

      When for extenuation sake we use a lighter and more easie word or terme then the matter requires.

      1657, J. Smith, Myst. Rhet., page 56

   7. countableuncountableThe action of lessening, or seeking to lessen, the guilt of (an offence or fault) by alleging partial excuses; and instance or means of doing this; a plea in mitigation of censure.

      In extenuation of a noble error.

      1839, Mackintosh, Eth. Philos., Wks. 1846, volume I, page 28

      5 more examples

      Extenuation, by which the Crime, that seemed great, is made lesse.

      1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, ii., xxvii., page 156

      He…was to find excuses and extenuations for sins.

      ante 1674, Clarendon, Surv. Leviath. (1676), page 180

      Whatever may be said for the Extenuation of such Defects.

      1712, Addison, Spect., № 297, ¶ 1

      It may be urged, in extenuation of this crime…that [etc.].

      1750, Johnson, Rambler, № 39, ¶ 7

      The differences of castes…furnish a copious stock of extenuations…to different classes of offences.

      ante 1832, Jeremy Bentham, Wks. (1843), volume I, page 174

   8. UScountablehumorousin pluraluncountableThin garments.

      One side wore…extenuations of a…green colour.

      1883 September 12, Pall Mall G., page 2/2

      1 more example

      They were clad in silken extenuations from the throat to the feet.

      1881 May, G.W. Cable, Scribner’s Mag., page 23