attenuate

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: at=ten=u=ate

CIDE DICTIONARY

attenuate, v. t. [L. attenuatus, p. p. of attenuare; ad + tenuare to make thin, tenuis thin. See Thin.].

•  To make thin or slender, as by mechanical or chemical action upon inanimate objects, or by the effects of starvation, disease, etc., upon living bodies.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make thin or less consistent; to render less viscid or dense; to rarefy. Specifically: To subtilize, as the humors of the body, or to break them into finer parts.  [1913 Webster]
•  To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less complex; to weaken.  [1913 Webster]

  "To undersell our rivals . . . has led the manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point."  [1913 Webster]

  "We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagerness."  [1913 Webster]

attenuate, v. i. 

 To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.  [1913 Webster]
"The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts."  [1913 Webster]

attenuate, a. [L. attenuatus, p. p.].

•  Made thin or slender.  [1913 Webster]
•  Made thin or less viscid; rarefied.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

attenuate, v. & adj.
--v.tr.
1 make thin.
2 reduce in force, value, or virulence.
3 Electr. reduce the amplitude of (a signal or current).
--adj.
1 slender.
2 tapering gradually.
3 rarefied.

Derivative

attenuated adj. attenuation n. attenuator n.

Etymology

L attenuare (as AD-, tenuis thin)

THESAURUS

attenuate

Sanforize, abate, adulterate, alleviate, attenuated, baptize, bate, blow off, blunt, cast forth, clear away, constrict, consume, contract, cramp, cripple, cut, damp, dampen, deaden, debilitate, deflate, dematerialize, devitalize, dilute, disable, disembody, dispel, dissipate, dissolve, drive away, dry up, dull, ease, emacerate, emaciate, enervate, enfeeble, etherealize, evaporate, eviscerate, exhaust, expand, extenuate, gruel, irrigate, lay low, lessen, macerate, mitigate, parch, preshrink, rare, rarefied, rarefy, rattle, reduce, reedy, remit, sap, sear, shake, shake up, shrink, shrivel, slacken, slender, slight, slim, soften up, spiritualize, subtile, subtilize, subtle, tenuous, thin, thin away, thin down, thin out, twiggy, unbrace, undermine, unman, unnerve, unstrengthen, unstring, volatilize, waste, waste away, water, water down, weaken, weazen, wither, wizen

ROGET THESAURUS

attenuate

Decrease

VB decrease, diminish, lessen, abridge, shrink, drop off, fall off, tail off, fall away, waste, wear, wane, ebb, decline, descend, subside, melt away, die away, retire into the shade, hide its diminished head, fall to a low ebb, run low, languish, decay, crumble, bate, abate, dequantitate, discount, depreciate, extenuate, lower, weaken, attenuate, fritter away, mitigate, dwarf, throw into the shade, reduce, shorten, subtract.

Contraction

VB become small, become smaller, lessen, decrease, grow less, dwindle, shrink, contract, narrow, shrivel, collapse, wither, lose flesh, wizen, fall away, waste, wane, ebb, decay, be smaller than, fall short of, not come up to, render smaller, lessen, diminish, contract, draw in, narrow, coarctate, boil down, constrict, constringe, condense, compress, squeeze, corrugate, crimp, crunch, crush, crumple up, warp, purse up, pack, squeeze, stow, pinch, tighten, strangle, cramp, dwarf, bedwarf, shorten, circumscribe, restrain, (subtraction) 38 abrade, pare, reduce, attenuate, rub down, scrape, file, file down, grind, grind down, chip, shave, shear, wear down.

Pulverulence

VB come to dust, be disintegrated, be reduced to powder reduce to powder, grind to powder, pulverize, comminute, granulate, triturate, levigate, scrape, file, abrade, rub down, grind, grate, rasp, pound, bray, bruise, contuse, contund, beat, crush, cranch, craunch, crunch, scranch, crumble, disintegrate, attenuate.