compensation
Americannoun
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compensations
plural
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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.
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the state of being compensated or rewarded in this way.
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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
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Biology. the improvement of any defect by the excessive development or action of another structure or organ of the same structure.
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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.
noun
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the act or process of making amends for something
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something given as reparation for loss, injury, etc; indemnity
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the automatic movements made by the body to maintain balance
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the attempt to conceal or offset one's shortcomings by the exaggerated exhibition of qualities regarded as desirable
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biology abnormal growth and increase in size in one organ in response to the removal or inactivation of another
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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noncompensationnoun
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precompensationnoun
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subcompensationnoun
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compensationaladjective
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procompensationadjective
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subcompensationaladjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of compensation
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English compensacioun, from Latin compēnsātiōn-, stem of compēnsātiō “a balancing”; equivalent to compensate + -ion
Explanation
Compensation means "making up for something." When a restaurant offers you a free dessert as compensation for messing up your dinner order, the hope is that you will leave happy (and refrain from writing a negative review online). Compensation can also be money, a payment meant to give someone a fair exchange for their effort and output. In fact, the word comes from the Latin word compensat-, meaning "weighed against." If you receive fair compensation for your work, the money is equal to your time and effort. In other words, the scale is balanced.
Vocabulary lists containing compensation
The Bill of Rights
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"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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"The Monkey's Paw," Vocabulary from the short story
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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:
Customers delayed by 30 minutes or more may be entitled to compensation, the operator said, adding: "While those who choose not to travel can claim a refund from their original point of purchase."
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Plagiarism can be defined as the appropriation of someone else’s words or ideas without acknowledgment or compensation.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Without a credible plan to keep debt in check, investors will demand a higher term premium, or greater compensation for buying longer-term debt, said Erik Liem, rates strategist at Commerzbank, in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
After a complicated legal battle against both Morgan and Essence Ventures, Spooner settled, successfully recovering the rights to the film in 2025, which he says was more important to him than financial compensation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
They had also told me not to expect victory or financial compensation.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
But all the compensations, all the progress anyway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
Edinburgh Employment Tribunal ruled that PC Jones should be awarded compensations of £24,800 and PC Tunnock should receive £23,824.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025
Earlier in the day, Mohsin Naqvi, the top official in Punjab province, where Jaranwala is located, announced the compensations on X, previously known as Twitter.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 21, 2023
It will also take additional costs related to stock-based compensations, which it said cannot be estimated at the time.
From Reuters ● Apr. 27, 2023
It was well for him, with his chivalry and mysticism and all the compensations of the male world, to make the grand renunciation.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
