the act or state of compensating, as by rewarding someone for service or by making up for someone's loss, damage, or injury by giving the injured party an appropriate benefit.
the state of being compensated or rewarded in this way.
something given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, loss, injury, suffering, lack, etc.; indemnity: The insurance company paid him $2000 as compensation for the loss of his car.
Biology. the improvement of any defect by the excessive development or action of another structure or organ of the same structure.
Psychology. a mechanism by which an individual attempts to make up for some real or imagined deficiency of personality or behavior by developing or stressing another aspect of the personality or by substituting a different form of behavior.
Origin of compensation
1350–1400;Middle Englishcompensacioun < Latincompēnsātiōn- (stem of compēnsātiō), equivalent to compēnsāt(us) (see compensate) + -iōn--ion
Related formscom·pen·sa·tion·al, adjectivenon·com·pen·sa·tion, nounpre·com·pen·sa·tion, nounpro·com·pen·sa·tion, adjectivesub·com·pen·sa·tion, nounsub·com·pen·sa·tion·al, adjective
late 14c., "action of compensating," from Latin compensationem (nominative compensatio) "a weighing one thing against another, a balancing," noun of action from past participle stem of compensare (see compensate). Meaning "what is given in recompense" is from c.1600; meaning "amends for loss or damages" is from 1804; meaning "salary, wages" is attested from 1787, American English. The psychological sense is from 1914.
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