Meaning & use
extenuating
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a nounformallaw
Providing a partial explanation that makes an offense, mistake, or failure seem less serious.
Grammar: Nearly always modifies circumstances, which follows it: extenuating circumstances.
Patterns
- extenuating circumstances
- plead extenuating circumstances
- there were extenuating circumstances
The judge considered the illness an extenuating circumstance.
There may be extenuating circumstances behind the late report.
His lawyer argued that poverty and threats were extenuating circumstances.
Common combinations
- extenuating circumstances
- Missing the deadline was serious, but the hospital stay was one of the extenuating circumstances.
- plead extenuating circumstances
- The defendant pleaded extenuating circumstances rather than denying the facts.
- take extenuating circumstances into account
- The committee took extenuating circumstances into account before deciding.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mitigating
- Mitigating is the close legal and general synonym; extenuating is slightly more formal and often fixed before circumstances.
- justifying
- Justifying means giving a full defense; extenuating only makes wrongdoing seem less severe.
- exculpatory
- Exculpatory evidence aims to clear blame; extenuating factors only reduce blame.
Opposites
Word family
- extenuate verb
- To make a fault seem less serious; rare in everyday speech.
- extenuation noun
- A partial excuse or the act of making an offense seem less serious.
Commonly confused: extenuating or extensive?
extenuating vs extensive
Extensive means covering a large area or amount; extenuating means partly excusing a fault.
Practice
Choose the best completion.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is extenuating circumstances. Conditions or situations can be near-meaningful but are not the standard collocation, and option 4 is unidiomatic.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extenuating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.