Mitigate Meaning
/ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo reduce, lessen, or decrease and thereby to make less severe or easier to bear.
verbTo downplay.
Sentence Examples
Reducing deforestation is one way to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Friendly words will mitigate their fury.
Machine learning can be used to predict and mitigate natural disasters.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The city built a tall flood wall to ____ the damage from the storm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city council is planning to build several new parks to help ____ the overall noise pollution coming from the busy nearby freeway.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mitigaten (“to relieve pain, soothe; (swelling) to abate; (hemorrhoids) to relieve; (the mind) to placate, appease; to end, check; to stop, cease”), from mitigat(e) (“mitigated, alleviated, relived”, also used as the past participle of mitigaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin mītigātus, the perfect passive participle of mītigō (“to make soft, ripe; to tame, pacify”), from mītis (“gentle, mild, ripe”) + -igō (“to do, make”), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁y- (“mild, soft”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1795, George Washington, Seventh 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..."
— 1813, James Madison, Fifth State of the Union Address:
"Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder."
— 1896, Walter Hadwen, The Case Against Vaccination:
"Then I discovered the brilliance of the landscape around was mitigated by blue spectacles."
— 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 7, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC:
"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."
— 1920, H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The city built a tall flood wall to ____ the damage from the storm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city council is planning to build several new parks to help ____ the overall noise pollution coming from the busy nearby freeway.