mitigation

American  

[mit-i-gey-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

It seems to be the position of UK ministers that mitigation isn't possible in this scenario.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

He added that "further pedestrianisation" of the city centre "without significant mitigation will exclude many of us from our city".

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

HSI Intelligence is currently leading anti-doxxing and threat mitigation efforts for the ICE workforce through contract services, according to an agency spokesperson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

She said there were mitigation efforts the company planned to put in place, and the approval imposes legally binding conditions on Canada Nickel that include protections for indigenous people living in and using the area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

“The laws of this state permit the hearing of evidence to ascertain the degree of responsibility. And, also, the law permits the offering of evidence toward the mitigation of punishment.”

From "Native Son" by Richard Wright

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

Sir Olly decided to approved the vetting subject to mitigations being put in place.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026

Having considered possible mitigations, Sir Olly then decided to give Lord Mandelson clearance, something which he says is not tantamount to having "overruled" UKSV.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026

In the real world, Firefox had other security mitigations that would have stopped the attack, which would have made more work for real-world hackers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

However, the roused indignation soon subsided, and he began to invent fairer and fairer mitigations for the first leaf of the so-long-sought favorite.

From Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2) by Jean Paul Friedrich Richter