different between mitigate vs smother

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

English

Alternative forms

• smoother (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sm?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smur?n? (“to suffocate, strangle”). Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).

Verb

smother (third-person singular simple present smothers, present participle smothering, simple past and past participle smothered)

1. (transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
2. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.

3. (transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish

   Synonyms: stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

4. (transitive) In cookery: to cook in a close dish.

5. (transitive) To daub or smear.
6. (intransitive) To be suffocated.
7. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. (soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
11. (Australian rules football) To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.

Related terms

• smotheration
• smotheriness
• smothery

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”), from Old English smorþor (“smoke”, literally “that which suffocates”), from smorian (“to suffocate, choke”) + -þor (instrumental suffix).

Noun

smother (plural smothers)

1. That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
   1. Smoldering; slow combustion.
   2. Cookware used in such cooking. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   3. (dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.
      • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Suspicion

        not to keep their suspicions in smother

   4. (dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
      • 1868, Judy (volumes 3-4, page 20)

        Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]

   5. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).

References

• smother in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• moth-ers, mothers, thermos