Extenuation
[ɪk,stenjʊ'eɪʃən] or [ɪk'stɛnjʊ'eʃən]
Definition
(noun.) to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious.
(noun.) a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances.
Edited by Della--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of axtenuating or the state of being extenuated; the act of making thin, slender, or lean, or of palliating; diminishing, or lessening; palliation, as of a crime; mitigation, as of punishment.
Inputed by Hubert
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Diminution, abatement, mitigation.[2]. Palliation, excuse, apology.
Typist: Sonia
Examples
- I hope this history of my conduct towards her will be admitted by you and my father as great extenuation of what you saw amiss. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Only she wept from fathomless depths of hopeless, hopeless grief, the terrible grief of a child, that knows no extenuation. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- For sins of omission a lack of space affords a reasonable excuse, and for those of commission the great scope of the work is pleaded in extenuation. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Circumstances over which had no control,' was the miserable creature's plea in extenuation. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Neither Mrs. Maylie, nor Harry, nor Rose (who all came in together), could offer a word in extenuation. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Tossed about all her life from one foreign school to another, she may justly proffer the plea of ignorance in extenuation of most of her faults. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- It may bring many extenuations. Jane Austen. Emma.
Typed by Anatole