attenuated

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at·ten·u·ate

(ə-tĕn′yo͞o-āt′)

v. at·ten·u·at·ed, at·ten·u·at·ing, at·ten·u·ates

v.tr.

1. To make slender, fine, or small: The drought attenuated the river to a narrow channel.

2. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: Medicine attenuated the fever's effect.

3. To lessen the density of; rarefy.

4. Biology To make (bacteria or viruses) less virulent.

5. Electronics To reduce (the amplitude of an electrical signal) with little or no distortion.

v.intr.

To become thin, weak, or fine.

adj. (-yo͞o-ĭt)

1. Reduced or weakened, as in strength, value, or virulence.

2. Botany Gradually tapering to a slender point.

[Latin attenuāre, attenuāt- : ad-, ad- + tenuāre, to make thin (from tenuis, thin; see ten- in Indo-European roots).]

at·ten′u·a′tion n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adj.	1.	attenuated - of an electrical signal; reduced in amplitude with little or no distortion electronics - the branch of physics that deals with the emission and effects of electrons and with the use of electronic devices decreased, reduced - made less in size or amount or degree
	2.	attenuated - reduced in strength; "the faded tones of an old recording" attenuate, faded, weakened decreased, reduced - made less in size or amount or degree

attenuated

adjective

1. slender, extended, thinned, slimmed, refined, stretched out, lengthened, drawn out, spun out, elongated, rarefied rounded arches and attenuated columns

2. weakened, reduced, contracted, lowered, diminished, decreased, dilute, diluted, lessened, devalued, sapped, watered down, adulterated, enfeebled, enervated The vaccination contains attenuated strains of the target virus.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

attenuated

adj atenuado

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References in classic literature ?

The theory is something like this: Space is pervaded by luminiferous ether, which is a material thing--as much a substance as air or water, though almost infinitely more attenuated. All force, all forms of energy must be propagated in this; every process must take place in it which takes place at all.

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How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for timid untravelled man to try to comprehend aright this wondrous whale, by merely poring over his dead attenuated skeleton, stretched in this peaceful wood.

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It is then that the plight of being alive becomes attenuated to its least possible dimensions.

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Afterwards I came to see it, and at the same time to see what was Irving's own in Irving; to feel his native, if somewhat attenuated humor, and his original, if somewhat too studied grace.

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I winced at my mistake, which I attenuated as I could, and opened my letter again to repeat it to her; then, faltering in the act and folding it up once more, I put it back in my pocket.

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"Ah!" cried Mazarin, raising his attenuated hand and striking his head, "I remember now!" Athos looked at him in astonishment.

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I thought of my nights of fear, and knew that mine were the real things--real as life itself, not attenuated vapors and surmised shadows.

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The bronze face, the shaggy black hair and beard, the coarse woollen red cap, the rough medley dress of home-spun stuff and hairy skins of beasts, the powerful frame attenuated by spare living, and the sullen and desperate compression of the lips in sleep, inspired the mender of roads with awe.

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Its air is much more attenuated than ours, its oceans have shrunk until they cover but a third of its surface, and as its slow seasons change huge snowcaps gather and melt about either pole and periodically inundate its temperate zones.

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His attenuated body will be laid out upon the captain's table next Sunday, and long before night will be buried with all the usual ceremonies beneath that worthy individual's vest.

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Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.

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He was a thin-faced ascetic, living in a state of high, attenuated calm--a molten planet under a transcontinental ice sheet.