mitigation

noun

mit·​i·​ga·​tion ˌmi-tə-ˈgā-shən How to pronounce mitigation (audio)
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, 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But Ismaili said the deficit mitigation exercises over the past few years have made this increasingly difficult. Livi Stanford, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2025 Ubuntu users who run a custom Linux kernel without Spectre GPU mitigations should keep the compute runtime level mitigations on, a spokesman for Ubuntu developer Canonical said. ArsTechnica, 25 June 2025 But Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the roadless rule already included flexibility that allowed for wildfire mitigation in those areas, like the removal of small-diameter trees, as long as new roads weren’t built. Jimmy Lovrien, Twin Cities, 25 June 2025 The dry bed of Owens Lake has long been a major source of dust in the Owens Valley, but mitigation efforts have reduced those emissions to a point that other dust sources in the surrounding desert now cause most of the poor air quality days in the area, according to a new report. Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for mitigation

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of mitigation was in the 14th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mitigation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mitigation. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.

Medical Definition

mitigation

noun
mit·​i·​ga·​tion ˌmit-ə-ˈgā-shən How to pronounce mitigation (audio)
1
: the act of mitigating or state of being mitigated
the cure, prevention, or mitigation of diseaseEncyclopedia Americana
2
: something that mitigates
a large number of drugs and mitigations … at the clinicThe Journal of the American Medical Association

More from Merriam-Webster on mitigation

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!