Attenuate

Attenuate is a verb that means to weaken or reduce in force. The Latin word attenuare (ah ten WAAR ay) means ‘to make thin’ or ‘to diminish.’ When we attenuate something, we reduce it, usually in terms of its power. If it gets any hotter in here, we’ll need to call in the janitor to fix this central heating system. If he can’t attenuate the system’s heating power, I feel like I’ll explode.