Synonyms

mitigate

American

[mit-i-geyt] / ˈmɪt ɪˌgeɪt /

verb (used with object)

to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain; moderate.
to make less severe.

to mitigate a punishment.
to reduce the risk or impact of harmful conditions or events.

To mitigate flood damage, new building regulations are being developed.
to make (a person, one's state of mind, disposition, etc.) milder or more gentle; mollify; appease.
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)

to become milder; lessen in severity.

mitigate British

/ ˈmɪtɪˌɡeɪt /

verb

to make or become less severe or harsh; moderate

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

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; see -ate ¹

Explanation

Choose the verb mitigate when something lessens the unpleasantness of a situation. You can mitigate your parents' anger by telling them you were late to dinner because you were helping your elderly neighbor. The somewhat formal verb mitigate comes from the Latin roots mītis, "soft," and agere, "to do/act," which add up to "to soften." It is often used with words that indicate an outcome or something harmful. When you buy car insurance, you are trying to mitigate the risks involved with driving. Sunscreen is used to mitigate the effects of the sun on your skin.

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Vocabulary lists containing mitigate

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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.

See Examples For:

mitigate mitigates mitigated mitigating

To mitigate rising costs, the Japanese brewer is considering adding production capacity on the US West Coast.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

WSJ: What other steps are you taking to mitigate water shortfalls?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Reynolds told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg the meeting early next week will focus on ways to "mitigate any job losses" but ruled out a bailout for the company.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

They said local taxpayers should not have to “pay the full costs of all that is needed to attempt to mitigate the harm.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

But it did not mitigate the feelings of failure on the football field.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

The advantage of this location "is that you can use the original tunnel's roof as your little tunnel's roof. Also, it mitigates risk of flooding," said Dix.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

“The company expects inventory levels to remain elevated as it mitigates this dynamic supply chain environment,” the company said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Moore said the facility has remained at 45 degrees, which mitigates the risk of it becoming a biohazard due to food spoilage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2026

While China relies on oil imports, "it mitigates this exposure through diversified suppliers, ties with Iran, substantial strategic reserves and continued reliance on coal", she said.

From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026

By properly rotating his crops he mitigates this to a certain extent, in addition to which he restores to the land some of its old nitrogenous constituents by the addition of manure.

From Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and many other recent Discoveries of Science by Thomas W. Corbin

However, it is possible some of this could be mitigated using new technologies.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

U.S. stocks gained after a rosy growth projection from Nvidia mitigated fears about the sustainability of the artificial-intelligence boom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

“Bears don’t like conflict. They like it easy. So the livestock issue, while fear is a real response if you are a livestock producer, can be mitigated … that’s not a deal breaker.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

“Rising component costs are mitigated given Apple’s bargaining power against consumers and the supply chain.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

This is the most mitigated statement of all.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Jet fuel prices will remain elevated over the July-December period, it forecast, vowing to pursue mitigating actions such as hedging for crude oil price changes.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

“There may be costs associated with mitigating these issues,” said Kevin Stahl, Braham’s city administrator and police chief, “however, at this time I cannot even estimate a cost.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Shorter bans - with a minimum of six matches - may also be considered when there are mitigating circumstances or an individual has admitted the breach at the earliest opportunity.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

Abatzoglou hypothesized the region’s link between wildfires and soil moisture could cause the mitigating effects of the preceding El Niño to linger longer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

“I don’t believe anything you tell me,” Nately replied, with a bashful mitigating smile.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023