From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. i.
To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.
[1913 Webster]
The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.
--Coleridge.
[1913 Webster] Attenuate
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, Attenuated \At*ten"u*a`ted\, a. [L.
attenuatus, p. p.]
1. Made thin or slender.
[1913 Webster]
2. Made thin or less viscid; rarefied. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
3. To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less
complex; to weaken.
[1913 Webster]
To undersell our rivals . . . has led the
manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in
the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point. --I.
Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
We may reject and reject till we attenuate history
into sapless meagerness. --Sir F.
Palgrave.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
attenuate
adj 1: reduced in strength; "the faded tones of an old
recording" [syn: {attenuate}, {attenuated}, {faded},
{weakened}]
v 1: weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance) [syn:
{rarefy}, {attenuate}]
2: become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
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