reparations

Sometimes rep·a·ra·tion

[rep-uh-rey-shuhnz]

plural noun

1. compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war.

   The U.S. government eventually disbursed reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned during World War II.

2. monetary or other compensation payable by a country to an individual for a historical wrong.

   The article is about reparations to Black people for the enslavement of their ancestors.

Word History and Origins

Origin of reparations¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; plural of reparation ( def. ) (in the sense of “something done or given to make amends”)

Example Sentences

In 2023, a UN judge said the UK likely owed more than £18tn in reparations for its historical role in slavery.

Read more on BBC

"We demand truth, justice, and reparations," the organisation added.

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The group submitted a 400-page legal petition to the Foreign Office earlier this month seeking an official apology and reparations from the UK.

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California became the first state government in the country to study reparations after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national conversation on racial justice.

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“Southern Man”? It’s probably a little glib to declare it a song about reparations, but it’s also not an incorrect observation.

Read more on Salon

When To Use

What does reparations mean?

Reparations are forms of compensation provided to those who have suffered wrongdoing or to their descendants. The term is especially used to refer to payments made (or proposed to be made) in the aftermath of war, slavery, or other forms of wide-scale systemic injustice.Reparations typically consist of monetary payments, but they can also consist of goods, materials, or reparatory actions intended to account for such damages or to address ongoing injustice.War reparations are typically made by a defeated country to the country or countries considered the victors (often ultimately to individual citizens in those countries) for losses and damages that resulted from the war.In the United States, reparations have been made to certain groups and proposed for others. Discussion of the topic often involves proposals to make reparations to people who have been the victims of brutal treatment and racist policies throughout U.S. history, including Native Americans and the Black Americans who are the descendants of the African people enslaved in the U.S.Sometimes, the word reparations is thought to be inappropriate for the type of compensation sought by some groups, who may consider it a payment of an existing debt, rather than a form of restitution.More generally, the singular form reparation is the act or process of making amends for wrongdoing. It can also refer to the act or process of repairing or the state of having been repaired.