- 1
Extenuation is the bag of facts around a wrong act that make you think, “I still don’t like what they did, but I can see why.” It does not wash the act clean. It thins it: once you know the person was very young, very scared, very hungry, or had no good way out, the same deed looks a little less ugly, and you may feel sorry for them as well as angry. Lawyers and judges use this word; they look for extenuation when they decide how hard to punish someone. Though actually, you will hear the cousin phrase “extenuating circumstances” far more than this noun by itself — that is the everyday shape. It is a formal, slightly old-fashioned word. Nobody says it over . People stretch it, too: a late student may offer a sad story as extenuation, and a kind teacher may accept it without pretending the homework arrived on time.
減輕事由；情有可原的理由（法律上常說「減輕情節」）
組成From Latin extenuātiō, “a thinning or lessening,” from extenuō “to thin, reduce, or diminish.” In English it is extenuate + -ion.
同家族的字
- extenuatethe verb this noun is built from: to make a wrong look less serious
- extenuatingthe form in the common phrase “extenuating circumstances”
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
extenuationnoun/ɪksˌtɛnjʊˈeɪʃən/
- 1
The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- This mightily helpeth the extenuation of members.
- A yong man…had an extenuation for want of nourishment in his Limbs.
- 2
obsoleteThe action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- Winds proceed from extenuation of the Air, by the Sun.
- 3
obsoleteThe action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- All Dilatation is some degree of Extenuation.
- The Sea is the same at all seasons; what it gets by Rivers and showers, losing by exhalations and extenuations through the excessive heats…within the Torrid Zone.
- 4
obsoleteThe action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- The saide citie is much decaid…not a little to the extenuacion of that part of this realme.
- Such extenuation let me begge, As in reproofe of many Tales deuis’d…I may…Finde pardon on my true submission.
- 5
The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- Sometimes…wee humble ourselves lower than there is cause…And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selves.
- Through their…extenuation [of their grievance], wretchedness and peevishness they undo themselves.
- 6
obsoleteThe action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- We call him the Disabler or figure of Extenuation.
- When for extenuation sake we use a lighter and more easie word or terme then the matter requires.
- 7
The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- Extenuation, by which the Crime, that seemed great, is made lesse.
- He…was to find excuses and extenuations for sins.
- 8
The action of extenuating; extenuated condition.
- They were clad in silken extenuations from the throat to the feet.
- One side wore…extenuations of a…green colour.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。