attenuate.
To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
Meaning & usage
To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
To become thin or fine; to grow less.
To weaken.
To rarefy.
To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.
To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.
Of a beer, to become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.
Where this word comes from
The verb is first attested in 1530, the adjective in 1626; borrowed from Latin attenuātus, the perfect passive participle of attenuō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + tenuo (“to make thin”), itself from tenuis (“thin”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).
Slender, thin.
Rarefied, thin, refined.
Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base.
Where this word comes from
The verb is first attested in 1530, the adjective in 1626; borrowed from Latin attenuātus, the perfect passive participle of attenuō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + tenuo (“to make thin”), itself from tenuis (“thin”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.