Sample sentences for EXTENUATING

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Definition

lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of

He was convicted, but with extenuating circumstances, and condemned to hard labour in Siberia for fifteen years.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot

My self-extenuation sounded unexpectedly and thoroughly foolish even to me who had believed in it with all my heart.
Hermann Hesse -- Steppenwolf

(editor's note: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.)

Now, maybe there were extenuating circumstances, maybe the road was slippery or something else was out of whack.
Chris Kyle -- American Sniper
Neither Mrs. Maylie, nor Harry, nor Rose (who all came in together), could offer a word in extenuation.
Charles Dickens -- Oliver Twist

"O.C. Bible: "Any sin can be ascribed, at least in part, to a natural bad tendency that is an extenuating circumstance acceptable to God."
Frank Herbert -- Dune
Thus they conversed; and there was nobody to set before Elizabeth any extenuation of the absent one's deceit.
Thomas Hardy -- The Mayor of Casterbridge

But the results, we know, were not of a kind to warrant this extenuation of the past.
George Eliot -- The Mill on the Floss

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter.
Patrick Henry -- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
— I hope this history of my conduct towards her will be admitted by you and my father as great extenuation of what you saw amiss.
Jane Austen -- Emma

That I could suggest anything in extenuation!
Jane Austen -- Northanger Abbey

"I shall bring that forward as an extenuating circumstance," replied Eugenie.
Alexandre Dumas -- The Count of Monte Cristo
If I were in a court of law seeking mercy for an ignominious act, I would have to plead extenuating circumstances.
Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Supremacy
She had what she wanted, an extenuating circumstance ... and no doubt she didn't really care whether we got away or not.
Louis L'Amour -- The Broken Gun
There are extenuating circumstances.
Agatha Christie -- Murder On The Orient Express
Counsel for the defense raised his arms to heaven and pleaded guilty, but with extenuating circumstances.
Albert Camus -- The Stranger
And before a court less arbitrary and more merciful than a martial one, that plea would largely extenuate.
Herman Melville -- Billy Budd
Were such a man once more to fall, what plea could be urged in extenuation of his crime?
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

They may extenuate, but can they ac quit?
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Pioneers
There were extenuating circumstances .... or were they aggravating?
Eugene Ionesco -- Rhinoceros
He confessed that much to me in extenuation of the shady part he had played in Sherif Ali's plot to do away with the infidel.
Joseph Conrad -- Lord Jim

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