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more about attenuate
attenuate |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. 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 3. To lessen the amount, force, or value of to make less complex; to weaken. To undersell our rivals . . . has led the manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point. --I. Taylor. We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagerness. --Sir F. Palgrave. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. i. To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less to lessen. The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts. --Coleridge. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, Attenuated \At*ten"u*a`ted\, a. [L. attenuatus p. p.] 1. Made thin or slender. 2. Made thin or less viscid; rarefied. --Bacon. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: attenuate adj : reduced in strength; "the faded tones of an old recording" [syn: {attenuated}, {faded}, {weakened}] v 1: weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance) [syn: {rarefy}] 2: become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
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