mitigate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain; moderate.
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to make less severe.
to mitigate a punishment.
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to reduce the risk or impact of harmful conditions or events.
To mitigate flood damage, new building regulations are being developed.
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to make (a person, one's state of mind, disposition, etc.) milder or more gentle; mollify; appease.
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Environmental Science. to restore or recreate (a habitat) in order to make up for losses due to development or agriculture.
No one has tried anything on this scale before to mitigate the grasslands bird habitat.
verb (used without object)
verb
Usage
Mitigate is sometimes wrongly used where militate is meant: his behaviour militates (not mitigates ) against his chances of promotion
Commonly Confused
Mitigate, whose central meaning is “to lessen” or “to make less severe,” is sometimes confused with militate, which means “to have effect or influence; weigh on.” This mix-up often occurs in the use of the phrase mitigate against, as follows: This criticism in no way mitigates (read militates ) against your going ahead with your research. Although this use of mitigate occasionally occurs in edited writing, it is rare and is widely regarded as an error.
Other Word Forms
- mitigable adjective
- mitigation noun
- mitigative adjective
- mitigator noun
- overmitigate verb
- unmitigable adjective
Etymology
Origin of mitigate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English mitigaten, from Latin mītigātus (past participle of mītigāre “to calm, soften, soothe”), equivalent to mīt(is) “mild, soft, gentle” + -ig- (combining form of agere “to do, cause to do, make”) + -ātus verb suffix; -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Powell, who joined the Fed in 2012 shortly after Warsh left, has championed a larger balance sheet as a way to mitigate financial crises.
From MarketWatch
Powell, who joined the Fed in 2012 shortly after Warsh left, has championed a larger balance sheet as a way to mitigate financial crises.
From MarketWatch
APM Terminals said in a statement earlier Friday it was "willing" to operate the ports "to support operational continuity" and to mitigate any risks to essential services.
From Barron's
Treasurys—a move that some investors believe could mitigate the impact of rate cuts.
Regulators, led by then–New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, instituted sweeping laws to mitigate conflicts of interest and create walls between bankers and analysts.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
