Lexic.us

Definition of Extenuation

1. Noun. A partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances.

2. Noun. To act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious.

Definition of Extenuation

1. n. The act of axtenuating or the state of being extenuated; the act of making thin, slender, or lean, or of palliating; diminishing, or lessening; palliation, as of a crime; mitigation, as of punishment.

Definition of Extenuation

1. Noun. The act of extenuating or the state of being extenuated; the act of making thin, slender, or lean, or of palliating; diminishing, or lessening; palliation, as of a crime; mitigation, as of punishment. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Extenuation

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Extenuation

extensor pollicis brevis extensor pollicis longus extensor retinaculum extensors extensure extent extention extents extenuate extenuated

extenuates extenuating extenuating circumstance extenuating circumstances extenuatingly extenuation extenuations extenuator extenuators extenuatory

exterior exterior-angle exterior angle exterior angles exterior door exteriorisation exteriorise exteriorised exteriorises exteriorising

Literary usage of Extenuation

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Curran and his contemporaries by Charles Phillips (1850)
"I know not whether this will be any extenuation of my offence—I know not whether it will be any extenuation of it to know, that if I had that situation in ..."

2. The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas by Edward Westermarck (1906)
"Very generally drunkenness is recognised as a ground of extenuation. We hear from various sources that the j North American Indians were exceedingly ..."

3. A Treatise on the Law of Evidenceby Samuel March Phillipps, John A. Dunlap by Samuel March Phillipps, John A. Dunlap (1823)
"... said Lord Kenyon, the very source and first principles of justice would be contaminated.(5) « . • The circumstances in extenuation, to lower the amount ..."

4. The Works of Hannah More by Hannah More (1835)
"... the princes of this world knew,' and their ignorance of which was the only extenuation that he offers of their guilt in ' crucifying the Lord of Glory. ..."

5. The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine by Charles Fenno Hoffman, Timothy Flint, Lewis Gaylord Clark, Kinahan Cornwallis, John Holmes Agnew (1836)
"... and not unfrequently he violates both nature and probability, without any poetical necessity to plead in extenuation of the offence. ..."

6. History of the Life and Times of James Madison by William Cabell Rives (1868)
"... United States by its Authority — Indignant Feeling kindled by these Acts — Unfounded Extenuation of them by Political Writers — Judge Marshall — Colonel ..."

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