recompense

American  

[rek-uhm-pens] / ˈrɛk əmˌpɛns /

verb (used with object)

recompensed, recompensing

1. to repay; remunerate; reward, as for service, aid, etc.

   Synonyms:

   recoup, reimburse

2. to pay or give compensation for; make restitution or requital for (damage, injury, or the like).

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verb (used without object)

recompensed, recompensing

1. to make compensation for something; repay someone.

   no attempt to recompense for our trouble.

noun

1. compensation, as for an injury, wrong, etc..

   to make recompense for the loss one's carelessness has caused.

   Synonyms:

   satisfaction, indemnification, amends, payment

2. a repayment or requital, as for favors, gifts, etc.

3. a remuneration or reward, as for services, aid, or the like.

recompense British  

/ ˈrɛkəmˌpɛns /

verb

1. (tr) to pay or reward for service, work, etc

2. (tr) to compensate for loss, injury, etc

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noun

1. compensation for loss, injury, etc

   to make recompense

2. reward, remuneration, or repayment

Related Words

See reward.

Other Word Forms

• recompensable
  adjective
• recompenser
  noun
• underrecompense
  verb (used with object)
• unrecompensable
  adjective
• unrecompensed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of recompense

1375–1425; (v.) late Middle English < Middle French recompenser < Late Latin recompēnsāre, equivalent to Latin re- re- + compēnsāre ( see compensate); (noun) late Middle English < Middle French, derivative of recompenser

Explanation

Say you loan a few bucks to a friend who is short on cash, and he wins the lottery. Presumably, he'll be able to recompense you, or pay you back what he owes. If you look closely at recompense, you'll see how similar it is to compensate, which means to make amends for something or to pay. Add the prefix re-, which suggests returning or repeating, and you get the meaning of recompense — paying back or reimbursing financially or otherwise. Recompense is most often used as a verb, but it works as a noun, too. In recompense for throwing peas and screaming, a mother might send a toddler to her room for a time-out.

Example Sentences

And without legal recompense, the only check to this power appears to be other armed men.

From Slate • Jan. 29, 2026

Grandparents have demanded money as recompense for having spent years caring for a grandson taken in battle.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025

His children, Tala and Adnan El Sabbagh, “feel they were robbed of things they treasured and worked hard for with no apparent recompense in sight.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2025

What is offered to another person without reservation can also be taken without recompense.

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 2024

It was probably just peaceful despair and relief at final and complete abnegation, now that Judith was about to immolate the frustration’s vicarious recompense into the living fairy tale.

From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner