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Extenuation (Noun)

To act in such a way as to cause an offense to seem less serious.

Nouns denoting acts or actions.

A partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances.

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.

The defendant's lawyer offered extenuation by pointing out that his client was under extreme duress when he committed the crime.
The student's late submission of the assignment was not entirely her fault, and her teacher accepted illness as an extenuation.
The politician's aide attempted to provide extenuation for the scandal by highlighting the circumstances that led to the poor decision.
The company's poor sales figures were not entirely due to bad management, and the CEO cited the economic downturn as an extenuation.
The driver's speeding ticket was reduced to a warning after he offered extenuation, explaining that he was rushing his injured child to the hospital.