| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | make diluted or less dense |
| Synonyms: | attenuate, cook, cut, cut back, decrease, delete, diminish, disperse, doctor, edit, emaciate, expand, extenuate, irrigate, lace, needle, prune, rarefy, reduce, refine, shave, spike, trim, water, water down, weaken, weed out |
| Antonyms: | beef up, thicken |
| Main Entry: | attenuate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | weaken |
| Synonyms: | abate, constrict, contract, cripple, debilitate, deflate, disable, dissipate, enfeeble, extenuate, lessen, mitigate, sap, shrink, thin, undermine, vitiate |
| Antonyms: | expand, increase, intensify, strengthen |
| Main Entry: | cull |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | pick out for reason |
| Synonyms: | choose, discriminate, elect, extract, glean, mark, opt for, optate, pluck, prefer, select, sift, single out, take, thin, thin out, winnow |
| Main Entry: | fade |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | dwindle, die out |
| Synonyms: | abate, attenuate, clear, decline, deliquesce, deteriorate, die away, die on vine, dim, diminish, disappear, disperse, dissolve, droop, ebb, etiolate, evanesce, evanish, evaporate, fag out, fail, fall, flag, fold, hush, languish, lessen, melt, melt away, moderate, perish, peter out, poop out, quiet, rarefy, shrivel, sink, slack off, taper, thin, tire, tucker out, vanish, wane, waste away, weaken, wilt, wither |
| Antonyms: | enhance, improve, recover, strengthen |
| Main Entry: | lessen |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | lower, reduce |
| Synonyms: | abate, abridge, amputate, attenuate, become smaller, clip, close, contract, crop, curtail, cut, cut back, de-escalate, decline, decrease, degrade, die down, dilute, diminish, downsize, drain, dwindle, ease, erode, grow less, impair, lighten, minify, minimize, mitigate, moderate, narrow, roll back, shrink, slack up, slacken, slow down, soft-pedal, take the bite out, take the edge off, take the sting out, taper, taper off, thin, truncate, weaken, wind down |
| Notes: | lessen means to decrease in size, extent, or range, while a lesson is a unit of instruction |
| Antonyms: | enlarge, extend, increase, raise, strengthen |
| Main Entry: | lighten |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | reduce weight, load |
| Synonyms: | allay, alleviate, ameliorate, assuage, attenuate, buoy, change, comfort, cut down, decrease, dilute, disburden, disencumber, ease, empty, eradicate, extenuate, facilitate, free, jettison, lessen, levitate, make less, make lighter, mitigate, mollify, pour out, put off, reduce, relieve, remove, shift, take, take a load off, thin, throw out, unburden, unload, uplight, upraise |
| Antonyms: | burden, weigh down |
| Main Entry: | pare |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | peel, trim |
| Synonyms: | carve, clip, crop, cut, cut back, cut down, decorticate, decrease, dock, flay, knock off, lop, lower, mark down, prune, reduce, scalp, scrape, shave, shear, skin, skive, slash, strip, thin, uncover |
| Antonyms: | cover |
| Main Entry: | prune |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | trim; cut short |
| Synonyms: | clip, cut back, dock, eliminate, exclude, gut, knock off, lop, pare down, reduce, shape, shave, shear, shorten, skive, snip, thin |
| Main Entry: | scrape |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | scratch, remove outer layer |
| Synonyms: | abrade, bark, bray, chafe, clean, erase, file, grate, graze, grind, irritate, pare, peel, rasp, rub, scour, scuff, shave, skin, squeak, thin, triturate |
| Antonyms: | smoothe |