- present participle of extenuate.
extenuating
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of extenuating
First recorded in 1600–10; extenuat(e) + -ing 2
Explanation
You'll be furious that your friend didn't bake the cupcakes she promised for your bake sale — until you learn the extenuating circumstances: her dog climbed onto her kitchen counter and ate all the cupcake batter. Extenuating means "making forgivable." The adjective extenuating is unusual because it's almost always used with the word circumstances; the phrase extenuating circumstances describes the specific reasons that excuse or justify someone's actions. The phrase became popular in the 1840s, and is even used in law to lessen punishment for crimes, but before that extenuating meant "lessening or making small." The Latin word for "thin," tenuis, combined with ex, means "to make thin", or to dilute a person's guilt because of a good excuse.
Vocabulary lists containing extenuating
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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.
The animal welfare charity said the numbers and living conditions of the dogs, discovered at an undisclosed location in the UK, "had rapidly grown out of control amid extenuating family circumstances".
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
Medicare doesn’t cover you for emergency hospital care overseas, except in certain extenuating circumstances where a foreign hospital may be closer than a U.S. one.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 13, 2026
Kasten said the Dodgers and other teams try to accommodate fans with extenuating circumstances.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 27, 2024
“The one thing I can tell you is that everyone that’s ever worked for me has always gotten paid. Obviously, the circumstances here are a little extenuating, but yes, everybody will be paid eventually.”
From Slate • Apr. 18, 2024
“Isn’t it a pity that we didn’t meet under less extenuating circumstances?”
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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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.