different between assist vs mitigate

English

Etymology

From Middle English assisten, from Old French assister (“to assist, to attend”), from Latin assist? (“stand at, bestand”, verb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s?st/
• Hyphenation: as?sist
• Rhymes: -?st

Verb

assist (third-person singular simple present assists, present participle assisting, simple past and past participle assisted)

1. To help.
2. (sports) To make a pass that leads directly towards scoring.
3. (medicine) To help compensate for what is missing with the help of a medical technique or therapy.
4. (archaic) To stand (at a place) or to (an opinion).

   A great part of the nobility assisted to his opinion.

5. (now archaic) To be present (at an event, occasion etc.).
   • 1789, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, Penguin 1990, p. 138:

     I assisted with pleasure at the representation of several tragedies and comedies.

   • 1967, The Rev. Loren Gavitt (ed.), Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church, revised edition, West Park, NY: Holy Cross Publications, p. 8:

     To assist at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.

Derived terms

Related terms

• assistant
• assistance

Translations

Noun

assist (plural assists)

1. A helpful action or an act of giving.

   The foundation gave a much needed assist to the shelter.

2. (sports) The act of helping another player score points or goals
   1. (soccer) A decisive pass made to the goal scorer
      • 2016, David Hytner, Mesut Özil has Arsenal daring to dream of Premier League glory (in The Guardian, 1 January 2016)[2]

        Özil has 16 assists in the Premier League and three goals; he has two more goals in the Champions League. On Monday, he took Bournemouth apart in the 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium, setting up the first for Gabriel and scoring the second himself.

   2. (baseball) A defensive play, allowing a teammate to record a putout.

   He had two assists in the game.

Derived terms

• assistful
• assistless

Translations

Anagrams

• -stasis, sistas, stasis

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English assist.

Noun

assist m (invariable)

1. (sports) assist

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English assist.

Noun

assist c

1. (sports) Make a pass that allows the own team to score (a goal).

Declension

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin m?tig?tus, from m?tig?, from m?tis (“gentle, mild, ripe”) + ag? (“do, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh?i- (“mild, soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?t.?.?e?t/

Verb

mitigate (third-person singular simple present mitigates, present participle mitigating, simple past and past participle mitigated)

1. (transitive) To reduce, lessen, or decrease; to make less severe or easier to bear.
   • 1795 – George Washington, Seventh State of the Union Address

     Measures are pursuing to prevent or mitigate the usual consequences of such outrages, and with the hope of their succeeding at least to avert general hostility.

   • 1813 – James Madison, Fifth State of the Union Address

     But in yielding to it the retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its extent and in its character...

   • 1896 – Walter Hadwen, The Case Against Vaccination

     Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder.

   • 1901 – H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, ch 7

     Then I discovered the brilliance of the landscape around was mitigated by blue spectacles.

   • 1920 – H. P. Lovecraft, The Cats of Ulthar

     The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten.

2. (transitive) To downplay.

Usage notes

Particularly used as mitigate a problem or flaw. Contrast with ameliorate (“make better”).

This word is often misused to mean “operate” or “influence”. For this meaning, the correct word is militate, followed by “against” or “in favour of”. Mitigate is never followed by these expressions.

Synonyms

• (to reduce or lessen): alleviate, check, diminish, ease, lighten, mollify, pacify, palliate

Antonyms

• (to reduce or lessen): aggrandize, aggravate, exacerbate, incite, increase, intensify, irritate, worsen

Coordinate terms

• ameliorate

Related terms

• mitigable
• mitigant
• mitigated
• mitigating
• mitigation
• mitigatory

Translations

References

Italian

Verb

mitigate

1. second-person plural present indicative of mitigare
2. second-person plural imperative of mitigare
3. feminine plural of mitigato

Latin

Participle

m?tig?te

1. vocative masculine singular of m?tig?tus