extenuate
Make less severe
To extenuate is to make something seem less serious or severe, typically a fault or offense.
The word suggests partial justification rather than complete excuse: Nothing can extenuate what he did, but his difficult childhood helps explain it.
Extenuating circumstances are factors that reduce the apparent gravity of wrongdoing without eliminating responsibility entirely.
Make less severe
- palliateReduce severity, not cause
- justifyProvide adequate grounds for
- excuseOffered reason for wrongdoing
- defendProtect from harm
rationalize · apologize · plead · alibi · vindicate · exculpate · absolve · exonerate
Diminish perceived importance
- diminishTo make smaller
- lessenReduce in degree
- reduceMake smaller in degree
- understateExpress with restraint
trivialize · belittle · soft-pedal · play down · underplay · deemphasize · discount · depreciate
mitigate
Make less severe
- palliateReduce severity, not cause
- justifyProvide adequate grounds for
- excuseOffered reason for wrongdoing
defend · rationalize · apologize · plead · alibi · vindicate · exculpate · absolve · exonerate · legitimize
downplay
Diminish perceived importance
understate · trivialize · belittle · soft-pedal · play down · underplay · deemphasize · discount · depreciate · make light of
dilute
Reduce by adding solvent
debilitate · enervate · sap · undermine · erode · impair · compromise · vitiate · diminish · reduce
extenuateaggravate
Make more severe
exacerbate · condemn · make worse · incriminate · inculpate
- extenuating circumstanceCondition reducing culpability
- extenuating factors