different between loosen vs mitigate

English

Etymology

From loose +? -en.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?lu?sn?/

Verb

loosen (third-person singular simple present loosens, present participle loosening, simple past and past participle loosened)

1. (transitive) To make loose.

   Synonyms: ease, relax, untighten

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 5, p. 111,^[1]

     […] after a yeares Rooting, then Shaking doth the Tree good, by Loosening of the Earth […]

   • 1992, Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, London: Picador, 1993, Chapter 10, p. 265,^[2]

     His days at the villa had loosened his body and freed his tenseness […]

2. (intransitive) To become loose.
   • 1630, Michael Drayton, “Noahs Floud” in The Muses Elizium Lately Discouered, London: John Waterson, p. 108,^[3]

     The subtile shower the earth hath softned so,

     And with the waues, the trees tost to and fro;

     That the rootes loosen, and the tops downe sway,

     So that whole Forrests quickly swimme away.

   • 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, London: J. Newbery, Volume 2, Letter 19, p. 159,^[4]

     The sea scurvy is attended with an universal putrefaction, the teeth loosen, old wounds that had been healed again open […]

   • 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son, London: Jonathan Cape, 1970, Book 3, p. 387,^[5]

     Max caught Bigger’s shoulders in a tight grip; then his fingers loosened and he sank back to the cot […]

3. (transitive) To disengage (a device that restrains).

   Synonyms: undo, unfasten

   • 1717, Joseph Addison (translator), Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, translated by the most eminent hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 3, p. 99,^[6]

     At Liberty th’ unfetter’d Captive stands,

     And flings the loosen’d Shackles from his Hands.

   • 1796, Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk, London: J. Bell, Volume 3, Chapter 10, p. 167,^[7]

     He easily comprehended, that the noise which he had heard was occasioned by his having loosened a chain which attached the image to its pedestal.

   • 1994, J. M. Coetzee, The Master of Petersburg, New York: Viking, Chapter 6, p. 55,^[8]

     Her hair is drawn back under a heavy enamelled clasp. He loosens the clasp and lays it on the table.

4. (intransitive) To become unfastened or undone.
   • 1770, Henry Brooke, The Fool of Quality, Dublin: for the author, Volume 5, p. 52,^[9]

     Immediately my Shackles loosened and fell away of themselves […]

5. (transitive) To free from restraint; to set at liberty.

   Synonyms: liberate, release, set free

   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), De Arte Graphica by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, London: W. Rogers, p. 185,^[10]

     This is an admirable Rule; a Painter ought to have it perpetually present in his Mind and Memory. […] it loosens his hands, and assists his understanding.

   • 1794, Ann Ward Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Volume 1, Chapter 5, p. 145,^[11]

     […] Valancourt, willing to take a more extensive view of the enchanting country, into which they were about to descend, than he could do from a carriage, loosened his dogs, and once more bounded with them along the banks of the road.

   • 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 1, Chapter 8,^[12]

     I thought you had more sense than […] to suppose that because you have fallen into a very common trouble, such as most men have to go through, you are loosened from all bonds of duty […]

   • 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Book 2, Chapter 11,^[13]

     The recollection loosened a throng of benumbed sensations—longings, regrets, imaginings, the throbbing brood of the only spring her heart had ever known.

6. (transitive) To relieve (the bowels) from constipation; to promote defecation.
   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 1, p. 14,^[14]

     […] Feare looseneth the Belly; because the Heat retiring inwards towards the Heart, the Gutts and other Parts are relaxed;

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: E. Dod, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 73,^[15]

     […] omitting the vehicle of water and honey, which is of a laxative power it selfe, the powder of some Loadstones in this dose doth rather constipate and binde, then purge and loosen the belly.

   • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, London: James Knapton, Volume 1, Chapter 8, p. 222,^[16]

     When this Fruit [the guava] is eaten green it is binding, when ripe it is loosening.

   • 1974, Richard Adams, Shardik, London: Oneworld, 2014, Chapter 36,^[17]

     Trying to control his breathing and the loosening of his bowels, he crouched still lower […]

7. (transitive, obsolete) To create a breach or rift between (two parties).
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 1,^[18]

     I had rather lose the battle than that sister

     Should loosen him and me.

8. (intransitive, obsolete) To sail away (from the shore).

   Synonym: put out

   • 1565, Arthur Golding (translator), The Eyght Bookes of Caius Iulius Cæsar conteyning his martiall exploytes in the realme of Gallia and the countries bording vppon the same, London: William Seres, Book 4,^[19]

     […] after the .iiii. day of oure arryuall in Britayne, the eightene shyps that we spake of before, which hadde the horsemen to conuey ouer, loosened from the further hauen with a soft wynd.

Antonyms

• tighten

Derived terms

• loosener
• loosen someone's tongue
• loosen the apron strings
• loosen the purse strings
• loosen up
• reloosen

Related terms

• loose
• unloosen

Translations

See also

• lose

Anagrams

• no-lose

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