Synonyms:
extenuation, mitigation, palliation
Meaning: to act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious
Usage examples
That the letter of the law, as much as the most flaming court sermon, inculcates passive obedience, is apparent; and though the spirit of a limited government seems to require, in extraordinary cases, some mitigation of so rigorous a doctrine, it must be confessed, that the presiding genius of the English constitution had rendered a mistake in this particular very natural and excusable.