SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
extenuating
adjective
Making a fault or difficult situation seem less serious or blameworthy.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Reducing blame
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topExtenuating circumstances lessen seriousness or blame without necessarily removing responsibility. Justifying can instead present an action as warranted.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See extenuating in use
The panel considered the extenuating circumstances before deciding.
A design contest discovered that one entrant had submitted another person's work under her own name. The panel considered her culpable because she had knowingly claimed authorship. A separate entrant had missed the deadline during a documented failure of the submission system. Those extenuating circumstances deserved a different review.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license