compound

¹ American  

[kom-paund, kom-paund, kom-paund, kuhm-paund, kom-paund] / ˈkɒm paʊnd, kɒmˈpaʊnd, ˈkɒm paʊnd, kəmˈpaʊnd, ˈkɒm paʊnd /

adjective

1. 

   composed of two or more parts, elements, or ingredients.

   Soap is a compound substance.

2. having or involving two or more actions or functions.

   The mouth is a compound organ.

3. Grammar. of or relating to a compound sentence or compound-complex sentence.

4. (of a word)

   1. consisting of two or more parts that are also bases, forming a or as housetop, many-sided, playact, or upon.

   2. consisting of any two or more parts that have identifiable meaning, as a base and a noninflectional affix (return, follower ), a base and a combining form (biochemistry ), two combining forms (ethnography ), or a combining form and a noninflectional affix (aviary, dentoid ).

5. (of a verb tense) consisting of an auxiliary verb and a main verb, as are swimming, have spoken, or will write (opposed to simple).

6. Botany. composed of several similar parts that combine to form a whole.

   a compound fruit.

7. Zoology. composed of a number of distinct individuals that are connected to form a united whole or colony, as coral.

8. Music. of or relating to compound time.

9. Machinery. noting an engine or turbine expanding the same steam or the like in two successive chambers to do work at two ranges of pressure.

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noun

1. something formed by compounding or combining parts, elements, etc.

2. Chemistry. a pure substance composed of two or more elements whose composition is constant.

3. a compound word, especially one composed of two or more words that are otherwise unaltered, as moonflower or rainstorm.

verb (used with object)

• compounds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• compounded,
  past participle,  past
• compounding
  present participle

1. to put together into a whole; combine.

   to compound drugs to form a new medicine.

2. to make or form by combining parts, elements, etc.; construct.

   to compound a new plan from parts of several former plans.

3. to make up or constitute.

   all the organs and members that compound a human body.

4. to settle or adjust by agreement, especially for a reduced amount, as a debt.

5. Law. to agree, for a consideration, not to prosecute or punish a wrongdoer for.

   to compound a crime or felony.

6. to pay (interest) on the accrued interest as well as the principal.

   My bank compounds interest quarterly.

7. to increase or add to.

   The misery of his loneliness was now compounded by his poverty.

8. Electricity. to connect a portion of the field turns of (a direct-current dynamo) in series with the armature circuit.

verb (used without object)

• compounds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• compounded,
  past participle,  past
• compounding
  present participle

1. to make a bargain; come to terms; compromise.

2. to settle a debt, claim, etc., by compromise.

3. to form a compound.

compound ² American  

[kom-paund] / ˈkɒm paʊnd /

noun

1. an enclosure, especially one for prisoners.

2. an enclosed or protected area where a group of people live or work, such as a military base.

3. any separate cluster of homes, often owned by members of the same family.

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compound ¹ British  

/ ˈkɒmpaʊnd /

noun

1. (esp formerly in South Africa) an enclosure, esp on the mines, containing the living quarters for Black workers

2. any similar enclosure, such as a camp for prisoners of war

3. (formerly in India, China, etc) the enclosure in which a European's house or factory stood

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compound ² British  

noun

1. a substance that contains atoms of two or more chemical elements held together by chemical bonds

2. any combination of two or more parts, aspects, etc

3. a word formed from two existing words or combining forms

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verb

1. to mix or combine so as to create a compound or other product

2. to make by combining parts, elements, aspects, etc

   to compound a new plastic

3. to intensify by an added element

   his anxiety was compounded by her crying

4. finance to calculate or pay (interest) on both the principal and its accrued interest

5. (also intr) to come to an agreement in (a quarrel, dispute, etc)

6. (also intr) to settle (a debt, promise, etc) for less than what is owed; compromise

7. law to agree not to prosecute in return for a consideration

   to compound a crime

8. electrical engineering to place duplex windings on the field coil of (a motor or generator), one acting as a shunt, the other being in series with the main circuit, thus making the machine self-regulating

adjective

1. composed of or created by the combination of two or more parts, elements, etc

2. (of a word) consisting of elements that are also words or productive combining forms

3. (of a sentence) formed by coordination of two or more sentences

4. (of a verb or the tense, mood, etc, of a verb) formed by using an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verb

   the future in English is a compound tense involving the use of such auxiliary verbs as ``shall'' and ``will''

5. music

   1. denoting a time in which the number of beats per bar is a multiple of three

      six-four is an example of compound time

   2. (of an interval) greater than an octave

6. zoology another word for colonial

7. (of a steam engine, turbine, etc) having multiple stages in which the steam or working fluid from one stage is used in a subsequent stage

8. (of a piston engine) having a turbocharger powered by a turbine in the exhaust stream

compound Scientific  

/ kŏm′pound′ /

1. A substance consisting of atoms or ions of two or more different elements in definite proportions joined by chemical bonds into a molecule. The elements cannot be separated by physical means. Water, for example, is a compound having two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom per molecule.

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1. Composed of more than one part, as a compound eye or leaf.

compound Cultural  

1. In chemistry, a substance containing two or more elements in definite proportions.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• compoundedness
  noun
• compounder
  noun
• compoundable
  adjective
• noncompoundable
  adjective
• uncompoundable
  adjective
• uncompounded
  adjective
• uncompounding
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• compounding
  present
• compounded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• compound
  simple
• compounds
  simple
• have compounded
  perfect
• has compounded
  perfect
• am compounding
  progressive
• are compounding
  progressive
• is compounding
  progressive
• have been compounding
  perfect progressive
• has been compounding
  perfect progressive

Past

• compounded
  simple
• had compounded
  perfect
• was compounding
  progressive
• were compounding
  progressive
• had been compounding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will compound
  simple
• will have compounded
  perfect
• will be compounding
  progressive
• will have been compounding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of compound¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb componen, compounen, compownen, from Old French compon- (stem of compondre ), from Latin compōnere, equivalent to com- com- + pōnere “to put”; Middle English adjective compouned, past participle of componen, as above

Origin of compound²

First recorded in 1670–80; alteration, by association with compound ¹, of Malay kampung “village, collection, gathering”; cf. kampong

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Explanation

If you compound a problem you add something to it to make it worse, like say, putting water on a grease fire. Compound means to combine; a compound is a combination or mixture of two or more things. Compound has several specialized uses. A compound is either a mixture or two or more things, or a heavily guarded residence. In botany, a compound leaf consists of more than one part. In linguistics, a compound is a word that consists of two or more independent words. In chemistry, a compound is a substance created when atoms from chemical elements join together.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

compound compounds compounded compounding

Now, at the academy, cadets had to fork over to leave the compound, take longer vacations or choose their military base after graduation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

These problems compound when a model is working in a language that is less represented in A.I. training data.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

The compound responsible for vanilla's familiar sweet flavor and aroma could have an unexpected future in medicine.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

"Water! Water!" the crowd shouted as it stormed a compound with data centres, armed with empty plastic bottles and jerry cans.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

"I quickly jumped in," Blake recalled, "and was driven at high speed to a safe flat in the neighborhood of Karlshorst," the main Soviet military and KGB compound in East Berlin.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

Plastics were long thought to be chemically inert, meaning they don’t react easily with other compounds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

That could indicate that the presence of other compounds in the body might dampen free radical creation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

The fall in activity compounds a tough few months for the industrial sector in the region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

“The GPUs are spendy, the cash goes out well before the customer payments come in, and rapid growth compounds the funding gap,” she wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

In China, families lived in compounds; a splintering in the family was called dividing the kitchen, and often meant that, literally.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Analysts have pointed out that the race to build out AI data centres, servers and chips has compounded that problem, with tech titans no longer able to rely on their vast piles of cash.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Over 25 years and 4,561 episodes, each of her small suggestions compounded into massive cultural shifts — significant transformation, from which there’s no going back.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026

Sadly, the $2,000 payment the 82-year-old mother made to her neighbor for clearing her garage is symptomatic of a lapse in judgment about the basic concepts of money, value and reasonableness, compounded by emotion.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Then the selling compounded with each development during the day—fighting words from an Iranian official at the U.N., hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve governor and a weak auction of government bonds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

So for the time being, my parents’ worries about their younger son’s physical health were compounded by their worries about their older son’s mental health.

From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick

The exact total depends on the timing of your deposits, compounding, taxes and fees.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Toxic smog is choking millions across Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, with authorities partly blaming the agricultural clearing method known as "slash and burn" for compounding the intense haze.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Let’s assume that $50,000 would be worth $216,000 in 30 years with compounding.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

And US grocery prices stood 2.2 percent higher than a year ago in August, underscoring households' compounding costs.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

"Yeah," I said, and I felt fear rush in, compounding my guilt.

From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour

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Related Words

• add to
• aggravate
• exacerbate
• heighten
• intensify
• magnify
• multiply
• worsen

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