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pronounce UNMITIGATED:

UN MITT uh gate ed

connect this word to others:

I love adjectives like unmitigated, unchoreographed, and unequivocal: despite their attention-demanding length, they each compress so much meaning and passion into a single word.

See if you can quickly assemble some similar five-syllable adjectives:

1. Something so strong or so correct that no one can assail it (whether with weapons or with criticisms) is ____________.

2. Something so good, so innocent, or so perfect that it's impossible to impeach is _____________.

3. Something astounding that's happening for the very first time, without any precedent, is _____________.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Let's start with "mitigate," which has Latin bits that literally mean "to make soft, to make gentle."

We talk about mitigating bad things, like pain, stress, sadness, concerns, disasters, and diseases. Something mitigated has been made less difficult, less intense, less stressful, and easier to bear.

And something unmitigated hasn't been softened at all: it's as severe, intense, and absolute as it ever has been.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective, the past participle kind: "an unmitigated disaster;" "Their joy was unmitigated."

Other forms:

We'll focus on the adjective in this issue. For the other forms, check out the issue for the verb, "mitigate."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, emphatic, semi-common word "unmitigated" when you need a weightier, more emphatic synonym of "pure," "sheer," "out-and-out," "absolute," or "full-strength."

We most often talk about unmitigated disasters or crises, but we also talk about unmitigated successes.

Emotions, too, can be unmitigated: often bad ones like rage and horror, but sometimes good ones, like joy.

examples:

"The retailer says the [TV advertisement] campaign was an unmitigated success, attracting 50 million views across social media."
— Daniel Thomas, BBC, 15 November 2019

"Midway through the 1972-1973 school year... the school system implemented an extensive court-ordered busing system to achieve racial balance. Dire predictions of an unmitigated social and educational disaster failed to materialize."
— Staff, Washington Post, 5 August 2021

has this page helped you understand "unmitigated"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "unmitigated" without saying "sheer" or "out-and-out."

try it out:

Arwa Mahdawi admitted she's terrible at caring for plants:

"My attempts to turn my small New York apartment into an urban oasis have been an unmitigated disaster. In the past month alone I have managed to kill 10 succulents."

With this in mind as an example, talk about an unmitigated disaster of your own making. Your example can be serious, or, like Mahdawi's, silly and exaggerated.

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Slide Into The Title: Elton John Edition!

Have you noticed how pop songs tend to use rhyme, rhythm, and semantics to guide you straight into singing the correct title, even if you’ve never heard it before? I love that, how the title clicks into place. See if you can slide into a complete title, given a snippet of lyrics.

You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today:

"When stars collide, like you and I,
No shadows block the sun.
You're all I've ever needed.
Baby, you're ___ ___."

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of UNMITIGATED is MITIGATED, meaning

A. "made safer or more secure."
B. "made smaller or more compact."
C. "made less bad, less harmful, or less severe."

2. In a memoir about someone's adolescence, you're mostly likely to read about their unmitigated _____.

A. dreams and aspirations
B. pranks and shenanigans
C. horrors and humiliations

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > UNMITIGATED

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