attenuated
Americanadjective
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weakened.
My father had a somewhat attenuated relationship with his own family, as his childhood was quite traumatic.
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thin; slender or fine.
Images of the conjoined twins’ brains reveal an attenuated line stretching between the two organs, called a thalamic bridge.
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Bacteriology, Immunology. (of a strain of disease-causing virus or bacterium) rendered less virulent.
The attenuated poliovirus in the Sabin vaccine replicates very efficiently in the gut, but less so in the nervous system.
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Electronics. (of an electronic signal) reduced in amplitude.
Accuracy decreases in the case of reflected or attenuated signals—for example, inside buildings.
verb
Other Word Forms
- subattenuated adjective
- unattenuated adjective
- unattenuatedly adverb
Etymology
Origin of attenuated
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They will test the theocracy to see whether the war has attenuated its strength.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
It’s way too attenuated to fit into the language of the statute, because the tariffs don’t actually “deal with” this threat of fentanyl.
From Slate • May 29, 2025
Anolik is less charitable about Babitz’s subsequent work, which she considers to be attenuated and strained, lacking the buzzy exuberance of “Slow Days, Fast Company.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2024
The live attenuated virus strains were originally developed as a vaccine by Professor Ooi Eng Eong's group from Duke-NUS' Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Programme.
From Science Daily • Mar. 8, 2024
Their faces, bathed in the attenuated December light from the tall windows, appeared quiet and even faintly reverent.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
