attenuation

[ uh-ten-yoo-ey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of attenuating or the state of being attenuated.
2. the process by which a virus, bacterium, etc., changes under laboratory conditions to become harmless or less virulent.
3. Physics. a decrease in a property, as energy, per unit area of a wave or a beam of particles, occurring as the distance from the source increases as a result of absorption, scattering, spreading in three dimensions, etc.

Other Words From

• subat·tenu·ation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of attenuation¹

1585–95; (< Middle French ) < Latin attenuātiōn- (stem of attenuātiō ). See attenuate, -ion

Example Sentences

There is no growth in the idea of god, there is only an attenuation.

From Project Gutenberg

It is to be given at the first attenuation three times daily in half gr.

From Project Gutenberg

The old man stared at this cynical announcement: he searched his visitor's face for some attenuation of the words.

From Project Gutenberg

Peter was pinguid, plump, and plethoric—she was thin to attenuation.

From Project Gutenberg

There was considerable attenuation of the walls of both auricles and ventricles.

From Project Gutenberg