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

Here Mr. Stoppard managed to impart a few slivers of his deep knowledge of literary history while exploring the universal theme of a love that cannot find expression or recompense.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

This cycle of governmental theft, recompense and reinjury lives on, the federal judge said in her 2022 ruling.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2024

"In each case substantial sums of money were lost to them with no prospect of recompense," he said.

From BBC • Nov. 15, 2023

For both Joe and Roger, making it into the shell barges was sweet recompense for days that had been, ever since school began, brutally long and demanding.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown