extenuate

Nothing can extenuate the horror of acts he spent his adult life trying to avoid.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2022

In my initial salvo, I pointed out that Yglesias had minimized the harm of copyright infringement with a rationale that could extenuate theft of any kind.

From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2012

Exceptionalism can be a dangerous faith because of how much it can extenuate and excuse.

From Time ● Feb. 4, 2010

Thereupon his onetime guests began to stampede before the Senate committee to explain and extenuate their presence at the 38th Street house.

From Time Magazine Archive

The defense made by the prisioner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

“Prince is painfully removed from the youth culture in which he’s participating, which only extenuates the project’s problems,” it stated.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 18, 2015

He then discusses the bearing of ignorance and error, vincible and invincible, and specially the case wherein an erroneous conscience extenuates.

From Moral Science; a Compendium of Ethics by Alexander Bain

A. Because it increases choler, which dries and extenuates the body.

From The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher Containing his Complete Masterpiece and Family Physician; his Experienced Midwife, his Book of Problems and his Remarks on Physiognomy by Aristotle

The story is told with a bared realism which the poignancy of the occasion freely extenuates.

From Atlantic Narratives Modern Short Stories by Elizabeth Ashe

It extenuates some things, maybe; but it sets down naught in malice.

From History of Kershaw's Brigade by D. Augustus Dickert

Hooker’s problems have been particularly extenuated and traumatic, especially for a vaulter who had the skill and composure to set an Olympic record of 19-6½ at the 2008 Beijing Games.

From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2012

But vices so numerous and great cannot be extenuated.

From Commentary on Genesis, Vol. II Luther on Sin and the Flood by John Nicholas Lenker

The profuse decoration underneath the bracket capital in the palace of Xerxes and elsewhere, serves no structural function, but gives some variety to the extenuated shaft.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various

One is extenuated and the other extended; one is invisible the other is visible.

From The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 7, July, 1880 by Aaron Walker

A black Pomeranian, extenuated by the heat and the fatigues of digestion, slept before the blaze.

From Mortal Coils by Aldous Huxley

There were, however, extenuating circumstances, in that he was 12th fastest before failing to improve on a messy final lap hindered by a sub-optimal 'prep' lap which left his tyres out of the 'window'.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

Medicare doesn’t cover you for emergency hospital care overseas, except in certain extenuating circumstances where a foreign hospital may be closer than a U.S. one.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026

After the public backlash, Taiwan announced additional exemptions for individuals with extenuating circumstances such as financial hardship, medical needs or safety concerns about traveling to China to search for records.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025

“The one thing I can tell you is that everyone that’s ever worked for me has always gotten paid. Obviously, the circumstances here are a little extenuating, but yes, everybody will be paid eventually.”

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2024

He wanted to plead his friend’s case, explain the extenuating circumstances.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover