palliate (v.)

15世纪早期，“缓解（疾病或其症状）而不治愈”，源自中世纪拉丁语 palliatus，字面意思是“披着斗篷的”，来自晚期拉丁语 palliare “用斗篷覆盖，隐藏”，源自拉丁语 pallium “斗篷”（参见 pall（n.））。意思是“通过辩解或引用减轻情况或有利的陈述来辩解或减轻（罪行）”来自1630年代。相关： Palliated； palliating； palliation。

Palliate and extenuate come at essentially the same idea through different figures : palliate is to cover in part as with a cloak; extenuate is to thin away or draw out to fineness. They both refer to the effort to make an offense seem less by bringing forward considerations tending to excuse; they never mean the effort to exonerate or exculpate completely. [Century Dictionary]

Palliate 和 extenuate 通过不同的比喻基本上表达了相同的意思： palliate 是部分地覆盖，就像披着斗篷一样； extenuate 是稀释或拉出细节。它们都指努力通过提出倾向于辩解的考虑来使罪行看起来不那么严重； 它们从来不意味着完全开脱或辩解。[世纪词典]