compensate
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin compensatus, past participle of compensare (“to weight together one thing against another, balance, make good, later also shorten, spare”), from com- (“together”) + pensare (“to weight”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkɒmpənseɪt/, /ˈkɒmpɛnseɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
compensate (third-person singular simple present compensates, present participle compensating, simple past and past participle compensated)
- To do (something good) after (something bad) happens
- To pay or reward someone in exchange for work done or some other consideration.
- It is hard work, but they will compensate you well for it.
- (transitive, intransitive) To make up for; to do something in place of something else; to correct, satisfy; to reach an agreement such that the scales are literally or (metaphorically) balanced; to equalize or make even.
- His loud voice cannot compensate for a lack of personality.
- To compensate me for his tree landing on my shed, my neighbor paved my driveway.
- Francis Bacon
- The length of the night and the dews thereof do compensate the heat of the day.
- Prior
- The pleasures of life do not compensate the miseries.
- To adjust or adapt to a change, often a harm or deprivation.
- I don't like driving that old car because it always steers a little to the left so I'm forever compensating for that when I drive it. Trust me, it gets annoying real fast.
- To compensate for his broken leg, Gary uses crutches.
Synonyms
1. To pay
- guerdon
- reimburse to pay back
2. To make up for, correct, satisfy, or equalize, to balance the scales, to equalize or make even.
- equate
- offset
- redeem
- accord
- reconcile
- harmonize
- atone
- indemnify
- requite
- rectify
- level
- resolve
- square
- amend
- expiate
- redress
- remedy
- remunerate
- appease
- restitute and restitution
3. To adjust to a change.
- acclimatize and acclimate
- accommodate
- accustom
- adapt
- accord
- counterbalance
- counteract
- integrate
- attune
Derived terms
- recompensate
Related terms
- compensation
- compensatory
- compensable
- compensably
- recompense
Translations
To do (something good) after (something bad) happens
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to balance the scales, to equaliz, to reach equilibrium
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to pay someone in exchange for work done or some other consideration
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to make up for; to do something in place of something else; to correct or fill
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Further reading
- compensate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- compensate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Italian
Verb
compensate
- second-person plural present indicative of compensare
- second-person plural imperative of compensare
- feminine plural of compensato
Latin
Verb
compensāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of compensō