Richard Dawkins

The central dogma of the New Testament is that Jesus died as a scapegoat for the sin of Adam and the sins that all we unborn generations might have been contemplating in the future. Adam's sin is perhaps mitigated by the extenuating circumstance that he didn't exist.

English Scientist

Chris Gardner

Nine times out of 10, extenuating circumstances aside, I believe that people are where they are by some kind of choice on their part. You need to acknowledge that, 'Hey, I'm here because I steered my horse in this direction.

American Businessman

Lionel Shriver

As individuals are best off believing they control their behaviour, the judiciary is best off imputing that control - barring powerful extenuating factors such as mental illness.

American Journalist

Clayton M. Christensen

Life is an unending stream of extenuating circumstances.

American Author

Often used in legal situations to describe factors that may reduce a sentence.

Legal Context

'Extenuating' doesn't mean an excuse, it suggests reasons that make the issue less severe.

Not Excuses

Use it when you want to express that something serious has been made to seem less so.

Seriousness Reduction

 and that's because we have the wrong frame of reference. We've been trained to think that the way to look at every dispute, every issue, is a matter of kind of individual rights. And so we peer through a legal microscope, and look at everything. Is it possible that there are extenuating circumstances that explain why Johnny