compensation

[kom-puhn-sey-shuhn]

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

/ 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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of compensation¹

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

Example Sentences

“These violations are not about withholding wages or failing to pay partners, but as part of the agreement, some current and former partners will receive payouts. This compensation is about compliance, not unpaid wages.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference, an organization seeking compensation for Holocaust survivors, support the new system and were involved in its conception.

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Livestock farmers are also demanding compensation following the loss of over 400,000 sheep and goats to the sheep pox outbreak, all slaughtered to stop the disease.

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The share count will increase when newly created stock is shoveled to executives as part of their compensation or if shares are issued to help pay for acquisitions.

Read more on MarketWatch

The share count will increase when newly created stock is shoveled to executives as part of their compensation or if shares are issued to help pay for acquisitions.

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Related Words

• allowance 
• benefit 
• bonus 
• coverage 
• earnings 
• fee 
• indemnity 
• pay 
• payment 
• payoff 
• premium 
• profit 
• redress 
• reimbursement 
• remittance 
• remuneration 
• reparation 
• restitution 
• reward 
• salary