attenuation

[ uh-ten-yoo-ey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of attenuating or the state of being attenuated.
2. the process by which a virus, bacterium, etc., changes under laboratory conditions to become harmless or less virulent.
3. Physics. a decrease in a property, as energy, per unit area of a wave or a beam of particles, occurring as the distance from the source increases as a result of absorption, scattering, spreading in three dimensions, etc.

Other Words From

• subat·tenu·ation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of attenuation¹

1585–95; (< Middle French ) < Latin attenuātiōn- (stem of attenuātiō ). See attenuate, -ion

Example Sentences

Even sisters who share a close bond have usually passed through periods of attenuation.

From Los Angeles Times

After all, tidal flats are important foraging areas for birds and contribute to wave attenuation.

From Science Daily

They investigated the carbon fluxes and their attenuation off the coast of Peru in an area with a millennia-old permanent oxygen minimum zone.

From Science Daily

"We experimentally determined the seismic wave attenuation characteristics, parameters for ascertaining the softness of the lithosphere and asthenosphere, under high temperature and pressure using our short-period oscillation generation technology," explains Prof. Yoshino.

From Science Daily

So the idea that there would be some attenuation of the correlation of Europeans and forms of democratic political institutions fits with our commonsense view of of the world.

From Salon