mitigation

noun

mit·​i·​ga·​tion ˌmi-tə-ˈgā-shən 

plural mitigations

: the act of mitigating something or the state of being mitigated : the process or result of making something less severe, dangerous, painful, harsh, extensive, or damaging

mitigation of suffering

mitigation of punishment

There was, in sum, a period during the Cold War … when a mitigation of the Cold War, including a renegotiation of some of its most troublesome tensions, was possible or even probable.

—John Lukacs

Examples of mitigation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Prior to its cancellation, the parade route had been shortened as a heat mitigation effort. — Kaitlyn McCormick, USA Today, 3 July 2026

Funding programmes can help by treating heat mitigation as essential infrastructure and creating faster ways for new technologies to be tested and adopted. — Jamil Wyne, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

When the television official found Love guilty of foul play without mitigation, the All Blacks were 7-0 down and reduced to 14 men. — ABC News, 4 July 2026

For those that do have mitigation procedures in place, those measures are typically part of other broader practices such as reducing mechanical agitation during washing and improving machine maintenance. — Jennifer Bringle, Footwear News, 8 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mitigation

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation

Medical Definition

mitigation

noun

mit·​i·​ga·​tion ˌmit-ə-ˈgā-shən 

1

: the act of mitigating or state of being mitigated

the cure, prevention, or mitigation of disease

—Encyclopedia Americana

2

: something that mitigates

a large number of drugs and mitigations … at the clinic

—The Journal of the American Medical Association