Mitigate vs. Militate: Usage Guide
Mitigate is sometimes used as an intransitive (followed by against) where militate might be expected. Even though Faulkner used it
William Faulkner
and one critic thinks it should be called an American idiom, it is usually considered a mistake.
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The meaning of mitigate is straightforward enough: to make something—such as a problem, symptom, or punishment—less harsh or severe. Sometimes, however, mitigate appears where the similar-looking militate is expected. That word, which is often followed by against, means “to have weight or effect,” as in “your unexcused absences are likely to militate against your getting a promotion.” The two words are not closely related (mitigate comes from the Latin verb mitigare, meaning “to soften,” whereas militate traces to militare, meaning “to engage in warfare”), but the confusion between the two has existed for long enough that some usage commentators have accepted “mitigate against” as an idiomatic alternative to militate. Even William Faulkner used mitigate in this way in his 1932 short story, Centaur in Brass, writing “It's as though there were some intangible and invisible social force that mitigates against him.” But unless you’re Faulkner, it’s best to keep mitigate and militate distinct.
Synonyms
Examples of mitigate in a Sentence
William Langewiesche, Atlantic, May 2005
… a genre novel whose inevitable cinematic ending doesn't mitigate the visceral and emotional power of what has come before. It lingers in the memory like a very bad dream.
—Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books, 14 Aug. 2003
For 65 holes Norman dominated the classic rolling fairways and small, subtle greens of Olympic … with driving and iron play so solid that it mitigated mediocre putting.
—Jaime Diaz, Sports Illustrated, 8 Nov. 1993
Emergency funds are being provided to help mitigate the effects of the disaster.
medicines used to mitigate a patient's suffering
Vegard Skirbekk, Foreign Affairs, 6 Nov. 2024
Proactively address concerns and, if warranted, include them in the process of mitigating the issues.
—Cory McNeley, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
However, the negative effects of rain can be mitigated by alternative voting methods such as mail-in ballots and early voting, according to another study conducted this year.
—Annabella Rosciglione, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 5 Nov. 2024
This last effort to mitigate flooding will affect dozens of communities both upstream and downstream in the Menomonee River watershed for the better, according to Schindler.
—Bridget Fogarty, Journal Sentinel, 5 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mitigate 
Dictionary Entries Near mitigate
Cite this Entry
“Mitigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mitigate. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mitigate
verb
Medical Definition
mitigate
transitive verb
Legal Definition
mitigate
verb
Estate of Arrowwood v. State, 894 P.2d 642 (1995)
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