Attenuating

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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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