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Webster 1913 Edition

Attenuate

At-ten′u-ate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Attenuated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Attenuating
.]
[L.
attenuatus
, p. p. of
attenuare
;
ad
+
tenuare
to make thin,
tenuis
thin. See
Thin
.]
1.
To make thin or slender, as by mechanical or chemical action upon inanimate objects, or by the effects of starvation, disease, etc., upon living bodies.
2.
To make thin or less consistent; to render less viscid or dense; to rarefy. Specifically: To subtilize, as the humors of the body, or to break them into finer parts.
3.
To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less complex; to weaken.
To undersell our rivals . . . has led the manufacturer to . . .
attenuate
his processes, in the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point.
I. Taylor.
We may reject and reject till we
attenuate
history into sapless meagerness.
Sir F. Palgrave.

At-ten′u-ate

,
Verb.
I.
To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.
The attention
attenuates
as its sphere contracts.
Coleridge.

Webster 1828 Edition

Attenuate

ATTEN'UATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. attenuo, of ad and tenuo, to make thin; tenuis; Eng. thin, which see.]
1.
To make thin or less consistent; to subtilize or break the humors of the body into finer parts; to render less viscid; opposed to condense, incrassate or thicken.
2.
To comminute; to break or wear solid substances into finer or very minute parts.
This uninterrupted motion must attenuate and wear away the hardest rocks.
3.
To make slender; to reduce in thickness.

ATTEN'UATE

,
Adj.
Made thin, or less viscid; made slender.

Definition 2024

attenuate

attenuate

English

Verb

attenuate ‎(third-person singular simple present attenuates, present participle attenuating, simple past and past participle attenuated)

  1. (transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
    • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, ch. 40:
      A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone.
  2. (transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
    • 1899, Stephen Crane, His New Mittens, ch. 4:
      Clumps of attenuated turkeys were suspended here and there.
    • 1906, E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Malefactor, ch. 1:
      Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.
  3. (transitive) To weaken.
    • Coleridge
      The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.
    • Sir F. Palgrave
      We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagreness.
  4. (transitive) To rarefy.
    • 1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, ch. 23:
      "It speedily became apparent that the entire strangeness of our circumstances and surroundings—great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky—was exciting my companion unduly."
  5. (transitive, medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacteria or virus.
  6. (transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.

Antonyms

Translations

Derived terms

Adjective

attenuate ‎(comparative more attenuate, superlative most attenuate)

  1. (botany, of leaves) Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base.

Italian

Verb

attenuate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of attenuare
  2. second-person plural imperative of attenuare
  3. feminine plural of attenuato

Latin

Verb

attenuāte

  1. first-person plural present active imperative of attenuō

References

Etymology

From Latin attenuāre, from attenuāt-, at- = ad-, ad- ‎(“to”) + tenuāre ‎(“to make thin”), tenuis ‎(“thin”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈtɛn.juː.eɪt/

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