Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Attenuate
At-ten′u-ate
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Attenuated
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Attenuating
.] 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.
At-ten′u-ate
,Verb.
I.
To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.
The attention
attenuates
as its sphere contracts. Coleridge.
Webster 1828 Edition
Attenuate
ATTEN'UATE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To make thin or less consistent; to subtilize or break the humors of the body into finer parts; to render less viscid; opposed to condense, incrassate or thicken.2.
To comminute; to break or wear solid substances into finer or very minute parts.This uninterrupted motion must attenuate and wear away the hardest rocks.
3.
To make slender; to reduce in thickness.ATTEN'UATE
,Adj.