Serving to extenuate or make something seem less serious; characterized by providing excuse or partial justification.
From extenuate + -ive (forming adjectives meaning 'tending to' or 'serving to'). The -ive suffix indicates that something has the quality or function of extenuation.
The phrase 'extenuative evidence' appears in legal proceedings—it's the technical term for evidence designed to weaken the prosecution's case by showing the crime wasn't as bad as it seems.
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