Attenuate -- Sam

at·ten·u·ate (-tny-t) v. at·ten·u·at·ed, at·ten·u·at·ing, at·ten·u·ates v.tr. 1. To make slender, fine, or small: The drought attenuated the river to a narrow channel. 2. To reduce in force, value, amount, or degree; weaken: Medicine attenuated the fever's effect. 3. To lessen the density of; rarefy. 4. Biology To make (bacteria or viruses) less virulent. 5. Electronics To reduce (the amplitude of an electrical signal) with little or no distortion. v.intr. To become thin, weak, or fine. adj. (-y-t) 1. Reduced or weakened, as in strength, value, or virulence. 2. Botany Gradually tapering to a slender point. [Latin attenure, attenut- : ad-, ad- + tenure, to make thin (from tenuis, thin; see ten- in Indo-European roots).] at·tenu·ation n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Sam posed this conundrum: would you rather be so attenuated that you could only walk on all fours or voiceless so that you could not talk and could only make barking sounds?