Attenuate

/əˈtɛn.juˌeɪt/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
2. (transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
3. (intransitive) To become thin or fine; to grow less.
4. (transitive) To weaken.
5. (transitive) To rarefy.
6. (transitive, medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.
7. (transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.
8. (brewing) Of a beer, to become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.

Example Sentences

A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone.

Clumps of attenuated turkeys were suspended here and there.

Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.

We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagreness.

"It speedily became apparent that the entire strangeness of our circumstances and surroundings—great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky—was exciting my companion unduly."

A beer which does not attenuate to the expected level in fermentation will have more residual sugar and thus be sweeter and heavier-bodied.

Synonyms for attenuate

Antonyms for attenuate

Related Words

Word Forms

• attenuates
• attenuating
• attenuated
• more attenuate
• most attenuate

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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