different between mitigate vs tranquilize

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

• tranquillize, tranquilise, tranquillise

Etymology

From Middle French tranquiliser

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?t?æ?kw?la?z/
• Hyphenation: tran?quil?ize

Verb

tranquilize (third-person singular simple present tranquilizes, present participle tranquilizing, simple past and past participle tranquilized)

1. (transitive) To calm (a person or animal) or put them to sleep using a drug.

   Synonym: sedate

   • 1962, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, New York: Dial, p. 255,^[2]

     Miss Ratched shall line us all against the wall, where we’ll face the terrible maw of a muzzle-loading shotgun which she has loaded with Miltowns! Thorazines! Libriums! Stelazines! And with a wave of her sword, blooie! Tranquilize all of us completely out of existence.

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 2, p. 13,^[3]

     When the public protests, confronted with some obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing pills of half truth.

2. (transitive, now literary) To make (something or someone) tranquil.

   Synonyms: appease, calm, pacify

   • 1779, Frances Burney, Evelina, Dublin: Price, Corcoran et al., Volume 2, Letter 14, p. 87,^[4]

     […] with words of sweetest kindness and consolation, he soothed and tranquilised me.

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Letter 1,^[5]

     […] I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose,—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

   • 1865, G. O. Trevelyan, Cawnpore, London: Macmillan, Chapter 5, p. 322,^[6]

     The column was placed under the orders of Major Renaud, who pushed up the road; fighting as occasion offered; tranquillizing the country by the very simple expedient of hanging everybody who showed signs of insubordination […]

   • 1931, E. F. Benson, Mapp and Lucia, Chapter 4,^[7]

     Supported by an impregnable sense of justice but still dangerously fuming, Lucia went back to her garden-room, to tranquillize herself with an hour’s practice on the new piano.

   • 1995, Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Chapter 11, p. 497,^[8]

     But time had tranquillized Dina’s worries about the landlord.

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To become tranquil.

   Synonyms: calm down, relax

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London, Volume 5, Letter 1, p. 11,^[9]

     Seest thou not, that this unseasonable gravity is admitted to quell the palpitations of this unmanageable heart? But still it will go on with its boundings. I’ll try, as I ride in my chariot, to tranquillize.

Antonyms

• madden

Derived terms

• tranquilization
• tranquilizer

Translations

References

Portuguese

Verb

tranquilize

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of tranquilizar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of tranquilizar