extenuate

Etymology 1

From Middle English extenuat (“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”), from Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”), the perfect passive participle of extenuō (“to diminish, reduce, thin”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + tenuō (“to enfeeble, weaken, wear down; to lessen, reduce; to make thin”). Tenuō is derived from tenuis (“fine, slender, thin; feeble, weak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- (“to extend, stretch; thin”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

adj

1. Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered.
2. Of a quality or thing: lessened, weakened.
3. Reduced to poverty; impoverished.

Etymology 2

From Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”): see further at etymology 1.

verb

1. To make (something) less dense, or thinner; also, to lower the viscosity of (something).
2. (archaic)
   1. To make (someone or something) slender or thin; to emaciate, to waste.
   2. To underestimate or understate the importance of (something); to underrate.
      1. (specifically) To diminish or seek to diminish the extent or severity of (a crime, guilt, a mistake, or something else negative) by making apologies or excuses; to palliate.
         to extenuate his faults    to extenuate their crimes
         [L]et us ſee hovv the vvicked behave themſelves here; they are full of their ovvne praiſes, the Phariſee ſaid, I faſt tvvice in the vveeke, and I give my tithes: but vvhen he ſpeaketh of his ovvne ſinnes, he extenuateth them and maketh them nothing; […] 1636, Iohn Weemse [i.e., John Wemyss], “[Commandement. IX.] How a Man Should Rule His Tongue, in Speaking of Himselfe or His Neighbour”, in An Exposition of the Morall Law, or Ten Commandments of Almighty God:[…], London: […] Cotes, for John Bellamie,[…], →OCLC, page 327
3. (obsolete)
   1. To beat or draw (a metal object, etc.) out so as to lessen the thickness.
   2. To reduce the quality or quantity of (something); to lessen or weaken the force of (something).
   3. To degrade (someone); to detract from (someone's qualities, reputation, etc.); to depreciate, to disparage.