extenuating circumstance
Lessens the blame
An extenuating circumstance is a condition that makes an offense less serious or a failure more forgivable.
The phrase appears most often in legal and academic contexts: The judge considered extenuating circumstances before sentencing.
A student who misses an exam due to hospitalization has extenuating circumstances.
The idea is that context matters—identical actions may deserve different responses depending on surrounding conditions.
- affirmative defenseDefendant's excuse admitting act
- mitigating circumstanceCondition reducing culpability
- pleaFormal request or defense
- mitigationReduction of severity
- reduced sentenceLessened judicial punishment
extenuating factors · excuse · duress · heat of the moment · tears · moral accountability · diminished capacity · temporary insanity · provocation · necessity · self defense · sob · alleviation · clemency · ethical considerations · justifiable · coercion · under the influence
- Exceptionsexception, exemption, exclusion, special case, anomaly
- justificationsjustification, rationale, reason, excuse, explanation
extenuating circumstanceaggravating circumstance
Condition increasing crime severity
incriminating evidence · smoking gun · nail in the coffin · black mark
extenuating circumstanceno excuse
No valid justification
willful misconduct · malice aforethought · mens rea · criminal intent
extenuating circumstanceaggravating circumstance
Condition increasing crime severity
aggravation · enhancement · prior conviction · premeditation · malice aforethought
extenuate, extenuated, extenuates, extenuation, tenuous, tenuously, tenuousness, thinnest, circumvent