Attenuate vs. Extenuate — What's the Difference?

To make slender, fine, or small

To lessen or appear to lessen the seriousness or extent of (an offense, for example), especially by providing partial excuses

To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken

To make thin or emaciated.

To lessen the density of; rarefy.

To mitigate or lessen.

(Biology) To make (bacteria or viruses) less virulent.

To belittle; disparage.

(Electronics) To reduce (the amplitude of an electrical signal) with little or no distortion.

Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.

To become thin, weak, or fine.

Of a quality or thing: lessened, weakened.

Reduced or weakened, as in strength, value, or virulence.

Reduced to poverty; impoverished.

(Botany) Gradually tapering to a slender point.

To make (something) less dense, or thinner; also, to lower the viscosity of (something).

(transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.

(archaic)

(transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.

To make (someone or something) slender or thin; to emaciate, to waste.

(intransitive) To become thin or fine; to grow less.

To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.

(transitive) To weaken.

(obsolete)

(transitive) To rarefy.

To beat or draw (a metal object, etc.) out so as to lessen the thickness.

To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.

To reduce the quality or quantity of (something); to lessen or weaken the force of (something).

To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.

To degrade (someone); to detract from (someone's qualities, reputation, etc.); to depreciate, to disparage.

(brewing) of a beer To become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.

To make thin or slender; to draw out so as to lessen the thickness.

Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base.

To lessen; to palliate; to lessen or weaken the force of; to diminish the conception of, as crime, guilt, faults, ills, accusations, etc.; - opposed to aggravate.

To make thin or slender, as by mechanical or chemical action upon inanimate objects, or by the effects of starvation, disease, etc., upon living bodies.

To lower or degrade; to detract from.

To make thin or less consistent; to render less viscid or dense; to rarefy. Specifically: To subtilize, as the humors of the body, or to break them into finer parts.

To become thinner; to make excuses; to advance palliating considerations.

To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less complex; to weaken.

Thin; slender.

To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.

Lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of;

Made thin or slender.

Made thin or less viscid; rarefied.

Weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance)

Become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude

Reduced in strength;