Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Mitigators are used to make an adjective become less strong. They are the opposite of intensifiers. Some common examples of mitigators are: fairly, rather, pretty, and quite.
The team was fairly convinced he had nothing to do with them winning.
By the end of the week, everyone was rather exhausted.
The food wasn’t cheap, but it was quite delicious.
He had a pretty good time hanging out with his girlfriend’s friends. (Informal)
QUITE
When the mitigator ‘quite’ is used with neutral adjectives, adding ‘quite’ makes them less strong.
They were quite loud.
( = They were loud but not very loud. )
My job is quite boring.
( = My job is boring but not very boring. )
On the other hand, when ‘quite’ is used with strong adjectives, they then mean ‘absolutely’.
Their behavior was quite awful.
( = Their behavior was absolutely awful. )
As a team, they are quite brilliant.
( = As a team, they are absolutely brilliant. )