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

(en verb)

To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter , title=The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , volume=100, issue=2, page=87 , magazine= citation , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}