Literary notes about mitigated (AI summary)
In literature, "mitigated" is frequently employed to indicate a reduction or softening of an otherwise harsh condition. Authors use it to describe a range of situations—from the lessening of punitive measures or hardships, such as a penalty being moderated [1, 2] or a captive's suffering eased [3, 4], to the attenuation of emotional pain or bitterness [5, 6]. It can also extend to more abstract improvements, like tempering the severity of legislation or even the ambiance of a setting [7, 8]. Overall, the word serves as a nuanced term that suggests a partial remedy or alleviation, balancing the narrative by modifying the intensity of a circumstance.
- Miltiades was therefore condemned to death; but gratitude for his previous valuable services mitigated the penalty to a fine of fifty talents.
— from Mosaics of Grecian History by Robert Pierpont Wilson - In 1773, the penalty for selling without a license was raised to 50 pounds, which could not be mitigated below 5 pounds.
— from Our Legal Heritage : 600-1776 King Aethelbert - King George III by S. A. Reilly - In short, I hope that the evils incident to the capture of a city, and especially of a Chinese city, have been in this instance very much mitigated.
— from Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin by Elgin, James Bruce, Earl of - The princess royal, whose qualities have honoured even her birth and blood, experienced [501] from this period a mitigated captivity.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe - In the present instance the pang was mitigated to a certain extent—not largely—by the fact that Phyllis looked at me.
— from Love Among the Chickens by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse - Such a lady gave a neighborliness to both rank and religion, and mitigated the bitterness of uncommuted tithe.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - The new imposition on legacies and inheritances was, however, mitigated by some restrictions.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - mitigated greatly the severity of this special legislation.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway