Verb

(attenuat)

To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.

* 1874 , , Far From the Madding Crowd , ch. 40:

A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone.

To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.

* 1899 , , His New Mittens , ch. 4:

Clumps of attenuated turkeys were suspended here and there.

* 1906 , , The Malefactor , ch. 1:

Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.

To weaken.

* Coleridge

The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.

* Sir F. Palgrave

We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagreness.

To rarefy.

* 1901 , , The First Men in the Moon , ch. 23:

"It speedily became apparent that the entire strangeness of our circumstances and surroundings—great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky—was exciting my companion unduly."

(medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacteria or virus.

(electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical signal.

Verb

(reliev)

To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}

To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.

To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).

To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).

(obsolete) To lift up; to raise again.

(legal) To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.

This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.

To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the seige on.

To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.

(military, job) To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.

* 1819 , (Lord Byron), , III.76:

The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair [...].

* 1927 , (Countee Cullen), From the Dark Tower :

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark

(reflexive) To go to the toilet; to defecate or urinate.