Both Uses of
mitigate
in
The Screwtape Letters
- Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless.
Chpt 8 *mitigated = made less harmful
- The Enemy's demand on humans takes the form of a dilemma; either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy.†
Chpt 18unmitigated = complete (not diminished) -- usually used to say that something that is harmful or unpleasant is not in any way made less badstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unmitigated means not and reverses the meaning of mitigated. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
make less harmful or unpleasant