restitution
Americannoun
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restitutions
plural
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reparation made by giving an equivalent or compensation for loss, damage, or injury caused; indemnification.
- Synonyms:
- repayment, satisfaction, requital, compensation, amends, recompense
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the restoration of property or rights previously taken away, conveyed, or surrendered.
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restoration to the former or original state or position.
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Physics. the return to an original physical condition, especially after elastic deformation.
noun
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the act of giving back something that has been lost or stolen
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law the act of compensating for loss or injury by reverting as far as possible to the position before such injury occurred
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the return of an object or system to its original state, esp a restoration of shape after elastic deformation
Usage
What does restitution mean? Restitution is payment or some other form of compensation that is given to make up for loss, damage, or injury that has been caused. Restitution can also refer to the act or process of compensating someone in this way. The point of restitution is to return what has been lost or stolen or to repair the damage or injury that has been done so that things can be returned to how they originally were or as close as possible. The word is especially used in a legal context to refer to compensation that is required by someone who has caused loss, damage, or injury as part of a crime. Restitution often involves monetary payments, but it can involve other forms of compensation. Example: The defendant was ordered to pay $1 million dollars in restitution to compensate for injuries and property damage.
Synonym Usage
See redress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of restitution
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English restitucioun, from Old French restitution, restitucion, from Latin restitūtiōn- (stem of restitūtiō ) “a rebuilding, restoration,” equivalent to restitūt(us) + -iōn-. See restitute, -ion
Explanation
Restitution is the act of making up for damages or harm. Remember the time you knocked the ball out of the park, scoring a home run but breaking a house's window in the process? You had to make restitution for the broken window, paying for its replacement. The noun restitution means both "restoring something to its original state" and "returning something to its rightful owner," like a public apology that leads to the restitution of a person's honor and reputation. Restitution also has a specific legal meaning — an order given by a judge to a convicted criminal to make amends for the crime. For example, judges often order people to pay restitution for the damage they cause.
Vocabulary lists containing restitution
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 7
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Hamilton
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A property management company owned by the family in 2022 agreed to pay $3.25 million in civil penalties and restitution to settle a lawsuit by the state of Maryland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
In offices devoted to rescue and restitution, Arendt had seen that a human world does not sustain itself: It depends on recognized claims and agreements someone is willing to keep.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The lawsuit asked the court to order Kalshi to halt its operation, make restitution to customers, forfeit all illegal gains and pay fines equal to triple those gains.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
What is needed is a social dividend to all humanity, not as redistribution but as restitution.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Might as well pay my restitution and not owe anybody anything.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
"It must be ensured that there is also a state-of-the-art procedure for future private restitutions."
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2024
Under the court settlement, precious metals dealer Argent Asset Group and First State Depository Company, which were both owned by Mr Higgins, were ordered to make restitutions of $112.7m and pay a penalty of $33m.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2023
Hicks, who spoke alongside Osanna at the restitution conference, has argued that anthropological museums today must now become the public spaces to debate problematic collections, while permitting also case-by-case restitutions.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2023
It has also undertaken two high-profile restitutions from its colonial past: In 2005, Italy returned to Ethiopia the massive, 160-ton Axum Obelisk, which Mussolini ordered sent to Rome in 1937 after his troops overran Ethiopia.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2023
"Ah!" replied the king, "as for restitutions to make, I owe nobody any individually; as for those that I owe the kingdom, I have hope in the mercy of God."
From A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 6 by Robert Black
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
