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Synonyms

compensation

American  
[kom-puhn-sey-shuhn] / ˌkɒm pənˈseɪ ʃən /

noun

  1. 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.

  2. the state of being compensated or rewarded in this way.

  3. 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.

    Synonyms:
    indemnification, satisfaction, requital, reparation, amends, payment, recompense
  4. Biology. the improvement of any defect by the excessive development or action of another structure or organ of the same structure.

  5. 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.


compensation British  
/ ˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən /

noun

  1. the act or process of making amends for something

  2. something given as reparation for loss, injury, etc; indemnity

  3. the automatic movements made by the body to maintain balance

  4. the attempt to conceal or offset one's shortcomings by the exaggerated exhibition of qualities regarded as desirable

  5. biology abnormal growth and increase in size in one organ in response to the removal or inactivation of another

"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

  • compensational adjective
  • noncompensation noun
  • precompensation noun
  • procompensation adjective
  • subcompensation noun
  • subcompensational adjective

Etymology

Origin of compensation

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English compensacioun, from Latin compēnsātiōn-, stem of compēnsātiō “a balancing”; equivalent to compensate + -ion

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.

With their latest lawsuit, Milstein and Bank are seeking a court order allowing them to demolish the house and compensation for the decline in property value after the city’s decision to declare it a monument.

From Los Angeles Times

Seeking compensation of that scale is likely to escalate tension between Ottawa and North American automakers, whose share of automobile production in Canada has declined steadily in the past decade.

From The Wall Street Journal

The chair of the organising team's compensation committee resigned on Monday, becoming the third senior official to quit in the space of just over two months.

From Barron's

Companies often take stock-based compensation expense out of their financial statements to show an adjusted figure, not in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP.

From Barron's

That law shields individual federal employees from being held financially responsible for negligence or wrongdoing done in the course of their job, but it does allow suits seeking compensation from government agencies.

From The Wall Street Journal