Mitigating definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MIT'IGATING, ppr. Softening; alleviating; tempering; moderating; abating.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mitigate Mit"i*gate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mitigated; p. pr. & vb. n. Mitigating.] [L. mitigatus, p. p. of mitigare to soften, mitigate; mitis mild, soft + the root of agere to do, drive.] 1. To make less severe, intense, harsh, rigorous, painful, etc.; to soften; to meliorate; to alleviate; to diminish; to lessen; as, to mitigate heat or cold; to mitigate grief. 2. To make mild and accessible; to mollify; -- applied to persons. [Obs.] This opinion . . . mitigated kings into companions. --Burke. Syn: To alleviate; assuage; allay. See Alleviate.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Mitigating circumstances or factors make a bad action, especially a crime, easier to understand and excuse, and may result in the person responsible being punished less severely. (LEGAL or FORMAL) The judge found that in her case there were mitigating circumstances... There are various mitigating factors. ADJ: ADJ n

Moby Thesaurus

abating, allaying, alleviating, alleviative, altering, analgesic, anesthetic, anodyne, assuaging, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, benumbing, blunting, bounding, cathartic, chastening, cleansing, cushioning, dampening, damping, deadening, demulcent, diminishing, dulling, easing, emollient, excusatory, extenuating, extenuatory, justifying, lenitive, lessening, limitative, limiting, mitigative, mitigatory, modificatory, modifying, modulatory, numbing, pain-killing, palliative, purgative, qualificative, qualificatory, qualifying, reducing, relaxing, relieving, remedial, restricting, restrictive, softening, soothing, subduing, tempering, vindicating