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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Attenuation

Attenuation \At*ten`u*a"tion\, n. [L. attenuatio: cf. F. att['e]nuation.]

  1. The act or process of making slender, or the state of being slender; emaciation.

  2. The act of attenuating; the act of making thin or less dense, or of rarefying, as fluids or gases.

  3. The process of weakening in intensity; diminution of virulence; as, the attenuation of virus.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
attenuation

early 15c., of persons, "emaciation;" of diet, "reduction," from Latin attenuationem (nominative attenuatio) "a lessening," noun of action from past participle stem of attenuare (see attenuate).

Wiktionary
attenuation

n. 1 A gradual diminishing in the strength of something. 2 (context physics English) A reduction in the level of some property with distance, especially the amplitude of a wave or the strength of a signal. 3 (context biology English) A weakening in the virulence of a pathogen or other microorganism. 4 (context botany English) The tapering of a leaf etc to a fine point. 5 (context engineering English) A fabrication process in which a material is stretched out into a thin shape.

WordNet
attenuation
  1. n. weakening in force or intensity; "attenuation in the volume of the sound" [syn: fading]

  2. the property of something that has been weakened or reduced in thickness or density

Wikipedia
Attenuation

In physics, attenuation (in some contexts also called extinction) is the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of flux through a medium. For instance, dark glasses attenuate sunlight, lead attenuates X-rays, and water attenuates both light and sound.

In electrical engineering and telecommunications, attenuation affects the propagation of waves and signals in electrical circuits, in optical fibers, and in air (radio waves). Electrical attenuators and optical attenuators are common manufactured components in this field.

Attenuation (disambiguation)

Attenuation is the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of flux through a medium, including:

  • Acoustic attenuation, the loss of sound energy in a viscous medium
  • Anelastic attenuation factor, a way to describe attenuation of seismic energy in the Earth

Attenuation may also refer to:

  • Attenuation (brewing), the percent of sugar converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the yeast in brewing
  • Attenuation coefficient, a basic quantity used in calculations of the penetration of materials by quantum particles or other energy beams
  • Mass attenuation coefficient, a measurement of how strongly a chemical species or substance absorbs or scatters light at a given wavelength, per unit mass
  • Regression attenuation or Regression dilution, a cause of statistical bias
  • The process of producing an attenuated vaccine by reducing the virulence of a pathogen
  • Attenuation constant, the real part of the propagation constant
  • Attenuator (genetics), form of regulation in prokaryotic cells.
Attenuation (brewing)

In brewing, attenuation is the percentage that measures the conversion of sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide by the fermentation process; a more attenuated beer will generally be drier and more alcoholic than a less attenuated beer made from the same wort. The percentage is calculated by comparing weight or specific gravity of the extract before and after fermentation.

Attenuation = 100 % * (starting extract − current extract) / (starting extract)

This formula works with extract given in weight percentages or degree Plato. Extract refers to all the non water substances (sugars, dextrins, proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc.) that are present in the wort. The percent extract or Plato scale is a measure in percent of how much of the wort’s weight is extract. Since, at least in the wort and beer gravities that most brewers work with, an almost linear relationship between (specific gravity − 1) and extract percentages exists, the above formula can also be expressed as:

Attenuation = 100 % * (starting gravity − current gravity) / (starting gravity − 1)

for brewers who prefer to work with specific gravity.

Usage examples of "attenuation".

But, even in the right, there is the difference that the one set, worshipping the beauty of earth, look no further, while the others, those of recollection, venerate also the beauty of the other world while they, still, have no contempt for this in which they recognize, as it were, a last outgrowth, an attenuation of the higher.

Yet this is given only at the quadrillionth, or fourth degree of potency, and various substances are frequently administered at the decillionth or tenth degree, and occasionally at still higher attenuations with professed medicinal results.

Meanwhile too it became clear that the energies of the publicity boy were directed not to the further accrual of publicity opportunities but to their radical attenuation.

No wonder they believe in the efficacy of a similar attenuation of bryony or pulsatilla.

The attenuations of distance may easily deceive one's ears who listens from across the ocean and the mountains.

Disheartening, indeed, had been the various attenuations of coffee which had been imposed upon me in my brief career as a diner-out among these people.

Project an estimate, based on the attenuation expected given half-thicknesses of the core wall structure.