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

Combined with an operational culture built around risk mitigation—where engineers naturally view black-box decision-making with skepticism—the barrier to scaling AI becomes cultural rather than technical. — Abhay Gupta, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026

That particular mitigation step will likely be technically challenging. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 9 Sep. 2026

The Aspen Fire Department meets weekly to assess where the mitigation goes next in collaboration with the town, Pitkin County, and other groups. — Jeff Todd, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2026

City officials have closed the Peninsula area to vehicular traffic, except for residents until further notice as crews continue mitigation and response efforts. — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 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