# mitigate

Pronunciation: say "MIT-i-gayt" /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/

## Verb

1. To lessen something bad, such as a problem or flaw, so that it becomes less severe or easier to bear.
   - Simple: To make something bad less serious or easier to deal with.
   - _The city planted thousands of trees to mitigate the effects of summer heat._
   - _Damage from the flood was mitigated by early warnings to residents._
2. To work toward preventing a problem, or to have an effect that helps prevent it.
   - Simple: To help stop a problem before it happens.
   - _"Our new backup system will mitigate against data loss," the IT manager told the staff._
   - _The organizers say they have mitigated against delays by hiring two extra drivers._
3. To make something seem less serious or important than it actually is.
   - Simple: To make something seem smaller or less bad than it really is.
   - _The minister tried to mitigate the scale of the losses, calling them a minor setback._
   - _In his statement he mitigated his role in the scheme, describing himself as a mere messenger._

## Adjective

4. Lessened in severity; relieved. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Made less bad or easier to bear.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3** — From Middle English mitigaten ("to relieve pain, soothe; to appease; to check"), borrowed from Latin mītigātus, the perfect passive participle of mītigō ("to make soft, ripe; to tame, pacify"), from mītis ("gentle, mild, ripe") + -igō ("to do, make"). The root is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁y- ("mild, soft").
**Meaning 4** — From Middle English mitigat(e) ("mitigated"), also used as the past participle of the verb, with the adjective suffix -ate; see the verb's history.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mitigate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).