extenuate

verb

ik-ˈsten-yə-ˌwāt How to pronounce extenuate (audio)
Definition of extenuatenext
as in to excuse
to make (something) seem less bad by offering excuses don't even try to extenuate their vandalism of the cemetery with the old refrain of "Boys will be boys"

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for extenuate
  1. excuse
  2. justify
  3. explain
  4. palliate
Verb
  • The report, along with another on durable goods orders, was originally scheduled for release Tuesday, but both were moved up a day by the Census Bureau following President Joe Biden’s executive order excusing federal-government workers from duty on Dec. 24.
    Bloomberg, Orange County Register, 26 Dec. 2024
  • The 36-year-old has shown some promise with the ball at his feet but his two mistakes for United goals cannot be excused.
    Jay Harris, The Athletic, 20 Dec. 2024
Definition of excuse
Verb
  • In his book Orientalism, Edward Said famously revealed the ways that Western literature had depicted Arabs as exotic, backward, irrational, and in need of guidance—portrayals that served, consciously or not, to justify a colonial mindset toward them.
    Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 13 Jan. 2025
  • Ignoring basic forest stewardship while crying ‘climate change’ is nothing more than a convenient excuse to justify inaction.
    Danielle B. Franz, National Review, 13 Jan. 2025
Definition of justify
Verb
  • Honoring your own culture An effective way to navigate these conversations is by explaining to your child that their friend's hairstyle is a way of honoring their culture—and that your child can celebrate their own culture, too.
    Leslie D. Rose, Parents, 14 Jan. 2025
  • Giving them a break while cutting benefits to lower-income Americans, also under discussion, could be politically difficult to explain.
    Kate Murphy, Axios, 14 Jan. 2025
Definition of explain
Verb
  • Radiation can also be used to palliate painful bone metastases, as well as chemotherapy.
    Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 1 Oct. 2024
  • Senior-home avatars who are designed to palliate dementia patients in their darkest days.
    Longreads, Longreads, 12 Apr. 2024
Definition of palliate
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Podcast

Thesaurus Entries Near extenuate

extents

extenuate

extenuated

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Extenuate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extenuate. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on extenuate

Nglish: Translation of extenuate for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

Word of the Year 2024 | Polarization

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
white rubber duck stands out in a row of yellow ducks
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.