Borrowed from Latin mītigātus, from mītigō, from mītis ("gentle, mild, ripe") + agō ("do, make"), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁i-.

• IPA: /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/

mitigate (mitigates, present participle mitigating; simple past and past participle mitigated)

1. (transitive, of problems or flaws) To reduce, lessen, or decrease and thereby to make less severe or easier to bear.
   • 1795, George Washington, Seventh State of the Union Address:

     Measures are pursuing to prevent or mitigate the usual consequences of such outrages, and with the hope of their succeeding at least to avert general hostility.

   • 1813, James Madison, Fifth State of the Union Address:

     But in yielding to it the retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its extent and in its character...

   • 1896, Walter Hadwen, The Case Against Vaccination:

     Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder.

   • 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 7, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC ↗:

     Then I discovered the brilliance of the landscape around was mitigated by blue spectacles.

   • 1920, H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar:

     The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten.

2. (transitive) To downplay.

• (to reduce or lessen) alleviate, check, diminish, ease, lighten, mollify, pacify, palliate

• (antonym(s) of “to reduce or lessen”): aggrandize, aggravate, exacerbate, incite, increase, intensify, irritate, worsen

• mitigable
• mitigant
• mitigated
• mitigating
• mitigation
• mitigatory

• French: réduire, atténuer, mitiger
• German: mildern, abschwächen, abmildern
• Italian: mitigare, limitare
• Portuguese: mitigar, atenuar, pacificar
• Spanish: mitigar