compensation

UK: /ˌkɒmpənˈseɪʃ^ən/ US: /ˌkɑmpənˈseɪʃən/ ,(kom′pən sā′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•pen•sa•tion /ˌkɑmpənˈseɪʃən/   n. [uncountable]

1. money given to make up for a loss, damage, etc.;
   damages:
   workers' compensation.
2. salary.
3. an action, adjustment, or counterbalancing that makes up for something unfortunate.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•pen•sa•tion  (kom′pən sā′shən), n. 

1. the act or state of compensating.
2. the state of being compensated.
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.
4. Physiology [Biol.] 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.

• Latin compēnsātiōn- (stem of compēnsātiō), equivalent. to compēnsāt(us) (see compensate) + -iōn- -ion
• Middle English compensacioun 1350–1400

com′pen•sa′tion•al, adj. 
Synonyms

• 3. recompense, payment, amends, reparation; requital, satisfaction, indemnification.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

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 attempt to conceal or offset one's shortcomings by the exaggerated exhibition of qualities regarded as desirable

ˌcompenˈsational adjective