MEANING
To make an offense or fault seem less serious by supplying mitigating circumstances.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- extenuating circumstances
- extenuate a fault
On the page
The court considered circumstances that extenuated his responsibility.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- extenuate
- Past tense
- extenuated
- Past participle
- extenuated
- Present participle
- extenuating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- extenuate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are extenuating
- Present perfect
- have/has extenuated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been extenuating
- Past
- extenuated
- Past continuous
- was/were extenuating
- Past perfect
- had extenuated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been extenuating
- Future
- will extenuate
- Future continuous
- will be extenuating
- Future perfect
- will have extenuated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been extenuating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: extenuate; extenuates; extenuated; extenuated; extenuating Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: extenuates.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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