attenuate

To reduce the force or severity; to lessen a relationship or connection between two objects.

In Criminal Procedure, the relationship between an illegal search and a confession may be sufficiently attenuated as to remove the confession from the protection afforded by the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree doctrine, thereby making it admissible as evidence in a criminal prosecution depending upon the facts of the case.

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attenuate verb attenuare, bate, constrict, constringe, contract, curtail, debilitate, decrease, deflate, devitalize, diminish in effect, extenuare, extenuate, lessen, lighten, make thin, narrow, reduce, reduce in intensity, reeuce in strength, render threadlike, taper, weaken, weaken in force
Associated concepts: attenuation between a cause and the result, proximate cause, remote cause

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See also: alleviate, decrease, depreciate, dilute, disarm, discount, extenuate, lessen, minimize, reduce