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

The resulting sense of deep connectedness and ego attenuation mirrors feelings commonly brought about by a psychedelic experience.

From Singularity Hub 

If you love getting down front in the action, go for more attenuation.

From Popular-Science

Also available in a Smaller Ears model, as well as a Slide model that offers adjustable attenuation—a feature usually only seen in high-end models.

From Popular-Science

He self-punishes to the nth degree, practices daily to extremes, is lean to the point of attenuation, and when he does yogic stretches for his hamstrings, he is looking not for normal flexibility but for beyond-maximal ranges of motion.

From Washington Post

There is no growth in the idea of god, there is only an attenuation.

From Project Gutenberg

It is to be given at the first attenuation three times daily in half gr.

From Project Gutenberg

The old man stared at this cynical announcement: he searched his visitor's face for some attenuation of the words.

From Project Gutenberg

Peter was pinguid, plump, and plethoric—she was thin to attenuation.

From Project Gutenberg

There was considerable attenuation of the walls of both auricles and ventricles.

From Project Gutenberg