Synonyms

compensate

American

[kom-puhn-seyt] / ˈkɒm pənˌseɪt /

verb (used with object)

to recompense for something.

They gave him ten dollars to compensate him for his trouble.

Synonyms:

pay, reward, remunerate
to counterbalance; offset; be equivalent to.

He compensated his homely appearance with great personal charm.

Synonyms:

countervail, counterpoise
Mechanics. to counterbalance (a force or the like); adjust or construct so as to offset or counterbalance variations or produce equilibrium.
to change the gold content of (a monetary unit) to counterbalance price fluctuations and thereby stabilize its purchasing power.

verb (used without object)

to provide or be an equivalent; make up; make amends (usually followed byfor ).

His occasional courtesies did not compensate for his general rudeness.

Synonyms:

atone
Psychology. to develop or employ mechanisms of compensation.

compensate British

/ kəmˈpɛnsətərɪ, -trɪ, ˈkɒmpɛnˌseɪt, ˈkɒmpɛnˌseɪtɪv, kəmˈpɛnsə-, ˈkɒmpɛnˌseɪtərɪ /

verb

to make amends to (someone), esp for loss or injury
(tr) to serve as compensation or damages for (injury, loss, etc)
to offset or counterbalance the effects of (a force, weight, movement, etc) so as to nullify the effects of an undesirable influence and produce equilibrium
(intr) to attempt to conceal or offset one's shortcomings by the exaggerated exhibition of qualities regarded as desirable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of compensate

First recorded in 1640–50, compensate is from the Latin word compēnsātus (past participle of compēnsāre to counterbalance, originally, to weigh together). See com-, pensive, -ate ¹

Explanation

Compensate is about correcting for an imbalance. If you step in an unmarked pothole, the city may compensate you by paying your doctor bills treating a broken ankle. Compensate can also mean "to adjust for." So, if you did stumble into the pothole and injure your left leg, then you might compensate by leaning heavily on your right leg. Increasingly, compensate is used in place of pay. Day laborers are paid for their time, but executives are more likely to be compensated with a suite that includes salary and other benefits––what is commonly referred to as a compensation package.

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Vocabulary lists containing compensate

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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:

compensate compensates compensated compensating

In addition to reinstatement, the arbitrator ordered the newspaper to compensate Attiah with full back-pay and benefits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

U.S. plants are running at a pace not seen in decades, yet the increased productivity still isn’t enough to compensate for the supplies that have been lost.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

The results suggest that combining pollen from different plants and then processing it through nurse bees may allow honeybee colonies to compensate for the nutritional shortcomings of individual pollen sources.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

For years, the government has helped compensate banks and payment firms for providing a service that has effectively been treated as public infrastructure.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

She lets the water run in the shower, turns up the thermostat to compensate for the terrible moment when she will have to step onto the mat on the bathroom floor, unclothed.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Sanjay Kumar, a senior official in the Telangana state government, said it compensates people for land and runs its own efforts to improve skills and provide loans for new businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

What it lacks in explosivity and pacing, “The Complex” at times compensates for in tension, tenderness and tenacity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2026

MPs heard the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, which compensates some victims, was "broken".

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

In other words, when incoming visual signals are reduced, the brain compensates by pulling stored images and experiences from memory.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2026

Likewise, insurance policies with broad coverage which compensates for any mishap are apt to be cheaper in the long run than insurance for a particular disease or a particular trip.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Murrill’s opposition doesn’t necessarily mean that Brooks and other exonerees won’t eventually be compensated.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

“This agreement with Merlin ensures participating artists are credited and compensated, and that every creation drives listeners back to the original work,” Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s global head of music, said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

In negotiations it has wanted to ensure that the tens of thousands of civil servants that its government employed in Gaza prior to the war should be compensated or given new jobs.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

“Uncertainties are piling up,” he noted, and the bond market expects to get compensated for it.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026

She compensated for this handicap by developing a memory on which was indelibly stamped everything she had ever heard or seen or experienced.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry

"The nervous system adopts a safety-first approach, compensating for age-related changes by favoring stability over performance," says Associate Professor Immink, Lead of the Active Lives Research Program within the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

It is compensating for the stagnant auto market by making power-chip solutions and optical cable for data centers.

From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026

Yet there are more than enough compensating pleasures.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

The findings suggest the brain may be compensating in women in ways that help maintain cognitive performance earlier in the disease.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026

This may seem counterintuitive, but remember, you are basically compensating for the transposition that is "built into" the instrument.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023