mitigate
• verb 1 make less severe, serious, or painful. 2 (mitigating) (of a fact or circumstance) lessening the gravity or culpability of an action. — DERIVATIVES mitigation noun. — USAGE The words mitigate and militate are often confused; mitigate means ‘make (something bad) less severe’, while militate is used in constructions with against to mean ‘be a powerful factor in preventing’. — ORIGIN Latin mitigare ‘soften, alleviate’.
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