| 释义 |
▪ I. exˈtenuating, vbl. n.
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. extenuate. (For quot. cf. sense 6 of vb.)
1671H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 397 A too sollicitous extenuating thy provision is all one as if thou should boast of it.
▪ II. exˈtenuating, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That extenuates in senses of the vb. Now chiefly in phrase extenuating circumstances: circumstances that tend to diminish culpability.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 525 A thin extenuating diet. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. i. 2 These words..are extenuating words. 1655Culpepper Riverius ii. i. 63 Let him use things extenuating, as Hysop, Fennel..and especially Nutmeg. 1679J. Goodman Penit. Pardoned ii. ii. (1713) 198 It was not an extenuating but a just reflection which the Historian makes upon..Alexander. 1694R. Burthogge Reason 139 Its Emanation..is from a Center into an Orb or Sphere, in Extenuating Lines. 1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 98 Galen holds that it is warming and extenuating. 1840Macaulay Clive 55 In Clive's case, there were many extenuating circumstances. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 494 [Those] who have taken the life of another under the like extenuating circumstances.
Hence exˈtenuatingly adv., in an extenuating manner.
1884Mrs. Houstoun Caught in Snare II. xv. 171 ‘Perhaps,’ said Helen, extenuatingly, ‘she suffers.’ |