[ad. L. attenuātus, pa. pple. of attenuāre: see prec.] Made thin.
1. Slender, thin; tapered, reduced to thinness.
1848. Dana, Zooph., 161. Tentacles numerous, attenuate, diaphanous.
1864. Mrs. H. Wood, Shad. Ashlydyat (1878), 433. She saw the white and wan face, the attenuate hands.
1880. Gray, Bot. Text-Bk., 398. Attenuate, slenderly tapering or narrow.
2. Thin in consistency, rarefied; refined.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 938. Such a rare and attenuate substance, as is the spirit of living creatures.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, III. Pref./1. The life of the body … hinders us of the sight of more attenuate phantasmes.
1879. G. Meredith, Egoist, I. xiv. 255. The idea is too exquisitely attenuate.
