mitigate

play

verb mit·i·gate \ˈmi-tə-ˌgāt\

Definition of mitigate

mitigated

;

mitigating

transitive verb
1 : to cause to become less harsh or hostile : mollify aggressiveness may be mitigated or … channeled — Ashley Montagu
2a : to make less severe or painful : alleviate mitigate a patient's sufferingb : extenuate attempted to mitigate the offense

mitigation

play \ˌmi-tə-ˈgā-shən\ noun

mitigative

play \ˈmi-tə-ˌgā-tiv\ adjective

mitigator

play \-ˌgā-tər\ noun

mitigatory

play \ˈmi-ti-gə-ˌtȯr-ē\ adjective

See mitigate defined for English-language learners

See mitigate defined for kids

mitigate was our Word of the Day on 11/08/2013. Hear the podcast!

Is mitigate against correct?

Mitigate is sometimes used as an intransitive (followed by against) where militate might be expected. Even though Faulkner used it some intangible and invisible social force that mitigates against him — William Faulkner and one critic thinks it should be called an American idiom, it is usually considered a mistake.

Examples of mitigate in a Sentence

At the far end of the room is a sliding glass door, taped with an X to mitigate shattering. The framing is flimsy, and rattles from mortar rounds even a half mile away. —William Langewiesche, Atlantic, May 2005
… a genre novel whose inevitable cinematic ending doesn't mitigate the visceral and emotional power of what has come before. It lingers in the memory like a very bad dream. —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books, 14 Aug. 2003
For 65 holes Norman dominated the classic rolling fairways and small, subtle greens of Olympic … with driving and iron play so solid that it mitigated mediocre putting. —Jaime Diaz, Sports Illustrated, 8 Nov. 1993
Emergency funds are being provided to help mitigate the effects of the disaster.
medicines used to mitigate a patient's suffering

Recent Examples of mitigate from the Web

Having a roof over her family’s head mitigates the nuisance of roaches and rats.

— jeff caplan, star-telegram, "Life on Las Vegas Trail: Drugs, guns, abuse — and a sliver of hope", 2 June 2017
At 3:23 p.m., BGE had mitigated the leak, fire vehicles were leaving and the Sheriff's Office was preparing to reopen the road, Fire & EMS spokespersons Rich Gardiner and Jenn Chenworth reported on Facebook.

— staff report, The Aegis, "Bel Air's Moore's Mill Road reopens after gas leak detected Friday afternoon", 2 June 2017
Overall therefore, while the negative correlation between oil/energy prices and corporate credit risk has diminished significantly over the past year, there are mitigating factors to at least partly explain this.

— simon ballard, Bloomberg.com, "Correlation Between Oil and Credit Spreads Is Flirting With Positive Again", 1 June 2017
Many mitigate their nudity with bathing suits, lingerie and/or body paint.

— doug maccash, NOLA.com, "World Naked Bike Ride jiggles into view June 10", 31 May 2017
Marshland boosts water quality, restores habitats, filters carbon dioxide from the air and can act as a sponge to mitigate rising sea levels.

— david garrick, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Little-known Mission Bay marsh could be key to fight against sea level rise", 26 May 2017
The firms also note that reducing the effects of climate change mitigates business risk.

— dino grandoni, Washington Post, "The Energy 202: Four numbers that will impact Trump on Paris climate accord", 26 May 2017
As pointed out by a number of outlets, including CNN, United's policy self-audit appears to be part of a plan to mitigate the damaging effects of this week's events on United as a brand.

— ryan craggs, CNT, "United Airlines Says It Won't Call Cops Except for 'Safety and Security'", 13 Apr. 2017
Below the waist and somewhat mitigating the shock effect were shiny high-waisted shorts festooned with chains, fishnet stockings, thigh-high boots and other now-customary items of the trade.

— alexandra jacobs, New York Times, "Near Nudity and Modesty Mix at Grammys", 12 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mitigate'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

mitigate or militate?

Would it be correct to say, "His boyish appearance mitigated against his getting an early promotion"? Most usage commentators would say "no." They feel such examples demonstrate a long-standing confusion between mitigate and the look-alike militate. Those two words are not closely related etymologically (mitigate descends from the Latin verb mitigare, meaning "to soften," whereas militate traces to militare, another Latin verb that means "to engage in warfare"), nor are they particularly close in meaning (militate means "to have weight or effect"). The confusion between the two has existed for long enough that one commentator thinks "mitigate against" should be accepted as an idiomatic alternative to militate, but if you want to avoid criticism, you should keep mitigate and militate distinct.

Origin and Etymology of mitigate

Middle English, from Latin mitigatus, past participle of mitigare to soften, from mitis soft + -igare (akin to Latin agere to drive); akin to Old Irish moíth soft — more at agent

NEW!

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of mitigate

relieve, alleviate, lighten, assuage, mitigate, allay mean to make something less grievous. relieve implies a lifting of enough of a burden to make it tolerable. took an aspirin to relieve the pain alleviate implies temporary or partial lessening of pain or distress. the lotion alleviated the itching lighten implies reducing a burdensome or depressing weight. good news would lighten our worries assuage implies softening or sweetening what is harsh or disagreeable. ocean breezes assuaged the intense heat mitigate suggests a moderating or countering of the effect of something violent or painful. the need to mitigate barbaric laws allay implies an effective calming or soothing of fears or alarms. allayed their fears