mitigate
/icons/point.icon 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.
e.g. took an aspirin to relieve the pain
ALLEVIATE implies temporary or partial lessening of pain or distress.
e.g. the lotion alleviated the itching
LIGHTEN implies reducing a burdensome or depressing weight.
e.g. good news would lighten our worries
ASSUAGE implies softening or sweetening what is harsh or disagreeable.
e.g. ocean breezes assuaged the intense heat
MITIGATE suggests a moderating or countering of the effect of something violent or painful.
e.g. the need to mitigate barbaric laws
ALLAY implies an effective calming or soothing of fears or alarms.
e.g. allayed their fears
verb with object
make less severe, serious, or painful:
｟かたく｠ 〈苦痛･怒り･悲しみなど〉を和らげる, 静める, 緩和する
e.g. he wanted to mitigate misery in the world.
lessen the gravity of (an offense or mistake):
〈刑罰など〉を軽減する
e.g. there had been a provocation that mitigated the offense to a degree.
DERIVATIVES
mitigable |-ɡibəl| adjective
mitigative adjective
mitigatory |ˈmidəɡəˌtôrē| adjective
ORIGIN
late Middle English: from Latin mitigat- ‘softened, alleviated’, from the verb mitigare, from mitis ‘mild’.
USAGE
The verbs mitigate and militate have a similarity in form but are quite different in meaning. Mitigate means ‘make (something bad) less severe,’ ( he wanted to mitigate misery in the world), while militate is nearly always used in constructions with against to mean ‘be a powerful factor in preventing’ ( laws that militate against personal freedoms).