Verb

(mitigat)

To reduce, lessen, or decrease.

* 1795 —

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 —

But in yielding to it the retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its extent and in its character...

* 1896 —

Then they tell us that vaccination will mitigate the disease that it will make it milder.

* 1901 — , ch 7

Then I discovered the brilliance of the landscape around was mitigated by blue spectacles.

* 1920 —

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.

To downplay.

Verb

(negotiat)

To confer with others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement.

* 1963 , , to the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait

"You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."

To arrange or settle something by mutual agreement.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)

, volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe.

To succeed in coping with, or getting over something.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 29, author=Kevin Mitchell, work=the Guardian

, title= Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau , passage=Novak Djokovic earlier had negotiated his own tricky passage through the fifth day.}}

(obsolete) To transact business; to carry on trade.

(Hammond)

(obsolete) To intrigue; to scheme.

(Francis Bacon)