11 letters · 19 points in Scrabble
verb lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
adjective partially excusing or justifying
originFrom Latin ex (“to delete, to cross out”) and tenuatus, past participle of tenuare (“to make thin”) + Middle English -ing. By surface analysis, ex- + tenuate + -ing.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0