attenuate

attenuate
    adj 1: reduced in strength; "the faded tones of an old
           recording" [syn: {attenuate}, {attenuated}, {faded},
           {weakened}]
    v 1: weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance) [syn:
         {rarefy}, {attenuate}]
    2: become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
    

Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. i.
   To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.
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         The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.
                                                  --Coleridge.
   [1913 Webster] Attenuate
    

Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, Attenuated \At*ten"u*a`ted\, a. [L.
   attenuatus, p. p.]
   1. Made thin or slender.
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   2. Made thin or less viscid; rarefied. --Bacon.
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Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Attenuated}; p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Attenuating}.] [L. attenuatus, p. p. of
   attenuare; ad + tenuare to make thin, tenuis thin. See
   {Thin}.]
   1. To make thin or slender, as by mechanical or chemical
      action upon inanimate objects, or by the effects of
      starvation, disease, etc., upon living bodies.
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   2. To make thin or less consistent; to render less viscid or
      dense; to rarefy. Specifically: To subtilize, as the
      humors of the body, or to break them into finer parts.
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   3. To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less
      complex; to weaken.
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            To undersell our rivals . . . has led the
            manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in
            the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point. --I.
                                                  Taylor.
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            We may reject and reject till we attenuate history
            into sapless meagerness.              --Sir F.
                                                  Palgrave.
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95 Moby Thesaurus words for "attenuate":
      Sanforize, abate, adulterate, alleviate, attenuated, baptize, bate,
      blow off, blunt, cast forth, clear away, constrict, consume,
      contract, cramp, cripple, cut, damp, dampen, deaden, debilitate,
      deflate, dematerialize, devitalize, dilute, disable, disembody,
      dispel, dissipate, dissolve, drive away, dry up, dull, ease,
      emacerate, emaciate, enervate, enfeeble, etherealize, evaporate,
      eviscerate, exhaust, expand, extenuate, gruel, irrigate, lay low,
      lessen, macerate, mitigate, parch, preshrink, rare, rarefied,
      rarefy, rattle, reduce, reedy, remit, sap, sear, shake, shake up,
      shrink, shrivel, slacken, slender, slight, slim, soften up,
      spiritualize, subtile, subtilize, subtle, tenuous, thin, thin away,
      thin down, thin out, twiggy, unbrace, undermine, unman, unnerve,
      unstrengthen, unstring, volatilize, waste, waste away, water,
      water down, weaken, weazen, wither, wizen