mitigate

English

WOTD – 16 November 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mītigātus, from mītigō, from mītis (“gentle, mild, ripe”) + agō (“do, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁i- (“mild, soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/

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Verb

mitigate (third-person singular simple present mitigates, present participle mitigating, simple past and past participle mitigated)

1. (transitive, of problems or flaws) To reduce, lessen, or decrease and thereby to make less severe or easier to bear.
   • 1795, George Washington, Seventh State of the Union Address:

     Measures are pursuing to prevent or mitigate the usual consequences of such outrages, and with the hope of their succeeding at least to avert general hostility.

   • 1813, James Madison, Fifth State of the Union Address:

     But in yielding to it the retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its extent and in its character...

   • 1896, Walter Hadwen, The Case Against Vaccination:

     Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder.

   • 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 7, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC:

     Then I discovered the brilliance of the landscape around was mitigated by blue spectacles.

   • 1920, H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar:

     The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten.

   • 2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 53:

     But then crashworthiness is not about preventing accidents, but about mitigating their consequences.

2. (transitive) To downplay.

Usage notes

Particularly used as mitigate a problem or flaw. Contrast with ameliorate (“make better”).

This word is often misused to mean “operate” or “influence”. For this meaning, the correct word is militate, followed by “against” or “in favour of”. Mitigate is never followed by these expressions.

Synonyms

• (to reduce or lessen): alleviate, check, diminish, ease, lighten, mollify, pacify, palliate

Antonyms

• (to reduce or lessen): aggrandize, aggravate, exacerbate, incite, increase, intensify, irritate, worsen

Coordinate terms

• ameliorate

Related terms

• mitigable
• mitigant
• mitigated
• mitigating
• mitigation
• mitigatory

Translations

to reduce, lessen, or decrease

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: смекчавам (bg) (smekčavam), облекчавам (bg) (oblekčavam)
• Catalan: mitigar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缓解 (zh) (huǎnjiě), 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo)

• Czech: zmírnit, snížit (cs)
• Dutch: mitigeren (nl), verzachten (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: lieventää (fi), helpottaa (fi)
• French: réduire (fr), atténuer (fr), mitiger (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: mildern (de), abschwächen (de), abmildern (de)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: csökkent (hu)
• Italian: mitigare (it), limitare (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: mītigō
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: whakamauru
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lindre, formilde, avbøte

• Polish: złagodzić (pl), zminimalizować, zmniejszyć (pl)
• Portuguese: mitigar (pt), atenuar (pt), pacificar (pt)
• Romanian: atenua (ro)
• Russian: смягчать, уменьшать ( строгость, суровость; наказание ); умерять, сдерживать ( жар, пыл ); облегчать ( боль, страдание )
• Spanish: mitigar (es)
• Swedish: lindra (sv), mildra (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: azaltmak (tr), dindirmek (tr), hafifletmek (tr), yumuşatmak (tr), yatıştırmak (tr), tadil etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: пом'якшувати (pomʺjakšuvaty), полегшувати (polehšuvaty), зменшувати (zmenšuvaty)
• Vietnamese: giảm nhẹ (vi), giảm thiểu

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

mitigate

1. inflection of mitigare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

mitigate f pl

1. feminine plural of mitigato

Latin

Participle

mītigāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mītigātus

Spanish

Verb

mitigate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of mitigar combined with te