mitigation

American  

[mit-i-gay-shuhn] / ˌmɪt ɪˈgeɪ ʃən /

noun

• mitigations
  plural

1. the act of mitigating, or lessening the force or intensity of something unpleasant, as wrath, pain, grief, or extreme circumstances.

   Social support is the most important factor in the mitigation of stress among adolescents.

2. the act of making a condition or consequence less severe.

   the mitigation of a punishment.

3. the act of alleviating harmful or dangerous conditions or of reducing the harm inflicted by them.

   radon mitigation;

   mitigation of climate change;

   aircraft noise mitigation.

4. the process of becoming milder, gentler, or less severe.

5. a mitigating circumstance, event, or consequence.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonmitigation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mitigations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mitigation

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Anglo-French, Middle French mitigacion, from Latin mitigātiōn-, stem of mitigātiō, equivalent to mitigāt(us), past participle of mitigāre “to calm, soften, soothe” + -iō -ion ( def. ); see mitigate ( def. )

Explanation

Mitigation is the act of lessening or easing the harshness of a punishment, a fine, or someone's pain. In the legal world, a lawyer might ask a judge for mitigation of a particularly harsh sentence. Mitigation is the noun form of the verb mitigate, which means "to lessen in severity." After a natural disaster, the government might offer mitigation, in the form of aid, to ease people’s suffering. If someone tries to make an offense seem less serious by offering an excuse, that's also mitigation. If you miss your curfew, you might state in mitigation that you came home late because you were helping an old lady cross the street.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mitigation mitigations

Citing the measures, the Binance investigators filed an “escalation document” to address “the urgent need for enhanced risk mitigation strategies at Binance.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

There was "limited mitigation" for this behaviour, it said.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Any project in the district should have a clear plan for fire mitigation in the wake of the nearby Palisades fire and the Woolsey fire, she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

In response to the growing wildfire threat, Xcel’s recent actions include creating a 60-person mitigation team, deploying hundreds of weather stations and cameras, and undergrounding more power lines over the past two years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

The court was then adjourned until the following day, when I would have a chance to address the court in what is known as the plea in mitigation before the magistrate gave his sentence.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Google also shared that it was deploying misalignment mitigations to monitor Argon’s chain of thought and shut down actions when necessary.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

The current demand bump is likely due to some demand destruction and demand mitigations in place with the rising prices at the pump, Cinquegrana said.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

However, Sir Chris told MPs in November that the document did contain an "initial assessment" of mitigations around potential professional or financial relationships and noted the inclusion of "a general reputational risk" linked to Epstein.

From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2026

Curry described several multilayered mitigations for a drone-saturated battlefield.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

He held fast to eternal punishment, but allowed the possibility of mitigations.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various