Reducing Problems

Objective: Understand mitigate and choose it accurately in context.

mitigate (verb): To make something harmful or unpleasant less severe. Context sentences 1. The town planted trees along the river to mitigate damage from future floods. 2. Clear instructions can mitigate the confusion that often accompanies a sudden change in leadership. 3. The architect added exterior shades to mitigate the afternoon heat inside the library.

Objective: Understand alleviate and choose it accurately in context.

alleviate (verb): To make pain, distress, or a burden less intense. Context sentences 1. A small emergency grant helped alleviate the family's anxiety about paying rent. 2. The counselor suggested a brief walk to alleviate the tension before the interview. 3. Additional evening buses could alleviate overcrowding on the route.

Objective: Understand ameliorate and choose it accurately in context.

ameliorate (verb): To improve a bad or unsatisfactory condition. Context sentences 1. The district renovated crowded classrooms to ameliorate learning conditions. 2. A clearer appeals process could ameliorate the agency's troubled relationship with applicants. 3. The cooperative introduced reliable refrigeration to ameliorate storage conditions for local growers.

Objective: Understand attenuate and choose it accurately in context.

attenuate (verb): To reduce the strength, intensity, or force of something. Context sentences 1. The engineer added a filter to attenuate the strongest electrical pulses. 2. Several layers of fabric can attenuate the light entering the display case. 3. The historian argues that geographical distance can attenuate a central government's influence.

Objective: Understand temper and choose it accurately in context.

temper (verb): To make a feeling, judgment, or response more moderate or restrained. Context sentences 1. The editor urged the columnist to temper her criticism with recognition of the team's limited resources. 2. Early success should not prevent investors from using caution to temper their enthusiasm. 3. The coach tried to temper the players' confidence before they faced a stronger opponent.

Objective: Understand curtail and choose it accurately in context.

curtail (verb): To reduce the extent or duration of something, often by imposing limits. Context sentences 1. The drought forced the town to curtail outdoor water use. 2. The moderator had to curtail the debate when the building's closing time approached. 3. New budget limits will curtail the department's travel next semester.

Objective: Understand rectify and choose it accurately in context.

rectify (verb): To correct an error or put something wrong into proper order. Context sentences 1. The publisher promised to rectify the incorrect dates in the next edition. 2. A technician adjusted the settings to rectify the scanner's alignment problem. 3. The registrar contacted the student to rectify an error in her enrollment record.

Objective: Understand redress and choose it accurately in context.

redress (verb): To remedy an injustice or unfair disadvantage. Context sentences 1. The scholarship program aims to redress unequal access to advanced coursework. 2. The workers sought compensation to redress years of unfair pay. 3. The commission proposed changes to redress the exclusion of rural communities from planning decisions.

Objective: Understand offset and choose it accurately in context.

offset (verb): To counterbalance an undesirable effect with an opposing benefit or effect. Context sentences 1. Lower shipping costs helped offset the increase in material prices. 2. The additional practice sessions may offset the team's lack of experience. 3. Revenue from weekend workshops could offset the gallery's weekday losses.

Objective: Understand neutralize and choose it accurately in context.

neutralize (verb): To make something unable to produce its intended or usual effect. Context sentences 1. The security update should neutralize the malicious code before it can alter any files. 2. A unanimous veto could neutralize the chairperson's attempt to impose the proposal. 3. The debate team prepared evidence to neutralize its opponent's strongest objection.