mit·i·gate

(mĭt′ĭ-gāt′)

tr.v. mit·i·gat·ed, mit·i·gat·ing, mit·i·gates

1. To make less severe or intense; moderate or alleviate. See Synonyms at relieve.

2. To make alterations to (land) to make it less polluted or more hospitable to wildlife.

Phrasal Verb:

mitigate against Usage Problem

1. To take measures to moderate or alleviate (something).

2. To be a strong factor against (someone or something); hinder or prevent.

[Middle English mitigaten, from Latin mītigāre, mītigāt- : mītis, soft + agere, to drive, do; see act.]

mit′i·ga·ble (-gə-bəl) adj.

mit′i·ga′tion n.

mit′i·ga′tive, mit′i·ga·to′ry (-gə-tôr′ē) adj.

mit′i·ga′tor n.

Usage Note: Mitigate, meaning "to make less severe, alleviate" is sometimes used where militate, which means "to cause a change," might be expected. The confusion arises when the subject of mitigate is an impersonal factor or influence, and the verb is followed by the preposition against, so the meaning of the phrase is something like "to be a powerful factor against" or "to hinder or prevent," as in His relative youth might mitigate against him in a national election. Some 70 percent of the Usage Panel rejected this usage of mitigate against in our 2009 survey. Some 56 percent also rejected the intransitive use of mitigate meaning "to take action to alleviate something undesirable," in What steps can the town take to mitigate against damage from coastal storms? Perhaps the use with against in the one instance has soured Panelists on its use in the other. This intransitive use is relatively recent in comparison with the long-established transitive use, so novelty might play a role as well.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	mitigation - to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious extenuation, palliation reduction, step-down, diminution, decrease - the act of decreasing or reducing something
	2.	mitigation - a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances extenuation exculpation, excuse, self-justification, alibi - a defense of some offensive behavior or some failure to keep a promise etc.; "he kept finding excuses to stay"; "every day he had a new alibi for not getting a job"; "his transparent self-justification was unacceptable"
	3.	mitigation - the action of lessening in severity or intensity; "the object being control or moderation of economic depressions" moderation reduction, step-down, diminution, decrease - the act of decreasing or reducing something abatement - the act of abating; "laws enforcing noise abatement"

mitigation

noun

1. extenuation, explanation, excuse In mitigation, the offences were at the lower end of the scale.

2. relief, moderation, allaying, remission, diminution, abatement, alleviation, easement, extenuation, mollification, palliation, assuagement the mitigation or cure of a physical or mental condition

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

mitigation

noun

Freedom, especially from pain:

alleviation, assuagement, ease, palliation, relief.

Translations

mitigation soulagement

attenuazione

opluchting verlichting

mitigation

[ˌmɪtɪˈgeɪʃən] N → mitigación f, alivio m
to say a word in mitigation → decir algo en descargo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mitigation

[ˌmɪtɪˈgeɪʃ^ən] n → atténuation f
in mitigation → en guise de circonstances atténuantes

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mitigation

n (of pain) → Linderung f; (of punishment) → Milderung f; to say something in mitigation → etwas zu jds/seiner Verteidigung anführen; have you anything to say in mitigation of sentence? → haben Sie zu dem Urteil noch irgendetwas Entlastendes vorzubringen?

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mitigation

[ˌmɪtɪˈgeɪʃ/ən] n (see vb) → mitigazione f, alleviamento

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

If I were to plead anything in mitigation of the preposterous fancy that a bad design will sometimes claim to be a good and an expressly religious design, it would be the curious coincidence that it has been brought to its climax in these pages, in the days of the public examination of late Directors of a Royal British Bank.

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Those which were sufferers by it would naturally seek for a mitigation of the burden.

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On the defendant's part there had been an attempt, though insufficiently sustained, to blast the plaintiff's character, and a plea, in mitigation of damages, on account of her unamiable temper.

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Any doubtfulness of the fact, or any circumstance of mitigation, was never disregarded: but the petitions of an offender, or the intercessions of others, did not in the least affect him.

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"That's just what I feared, that you wouldn't care about the mitigation of sentence."

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Accordingly, the necessary preliminaries were arranged; and, when we parted, it was some mitigation of our grief to know that there was a time appointed for meeting again.

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Let judgment be entered against me, but in strict justice all my ancestors for generations should be made co-defendants and I be permitted to plead in mitigation of punishment the imperious mandate of heredity.

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The shorter address in mitigation of the penalty; 3rd.

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"If the Supreme Being has directed the fatal blow," said Emmanuel, "it must be that he in his great goodness has perceived nothing in the past lives of these people to merit mitigation of their awful punishment."

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However, at the moment when Master Florian Barbedienne was reading the sentence in his turn, before signing it, the clerk felt himself moved with pity for the poor wretch of a prisoner, and, in the hope of obtaining some mitigation of the penalty, he approached as near the auditor's ear as possible, and said, pointing to Quasimodo, "That man is deaf."

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Raising his eyes for a moment from the face of his watch, he rested them upon the opposite bank, reflectively and not without a certain wistfulness, as if the sternness of their gaze were still capable of mitigation. Soon a look of the deepest satisfaction filled them, though, for a moment, he did not move.

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Perhaps you can forgive my want of candour, and remember, as some partial mitigation of the offence, how little encouragement to friendly confidence you have given me of late.'

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