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compensate Definition

com·pen·sate (käm′pən sāt′)

transitive verb -·sat′ed, -·sat′·ing

  1. Now Rare to make up for; be a counterbalance to in weight, force, etc.
  2. to make equivalent or suitable return to; recompense; pay to compensate an owner for land taken by a city
  3. Mech. to counteract or make allowance for (a variation)

Etymology: < L compensatus, pp. of compensare, to weigh one thing against another < com-, with + pensare, freq. of pendere, to weigh: see pendant

intransitive verb

  1. to make or serve as compensation or amends (for)
  2. Psychol. to engage in compensation

compensate Related Forms

com′·pen·sa′·tive (kəm pen′sə tiv, käm′pən sāt′iv) adjective com·pen′·sa·to′ry (kəm pen′sə tôr′ē) adjective

compensate Synonyms

compensate

v.

  1. To pay

    recompense, remunerate, requite; see pay 1, repay 1.

  2. To offset

    counterbalance, neutralize, counterpoise, make up for; see offset. See syn. study at pay.

compensate Usage Examples

Used with why or when

  • when: First, the liver is an amazing organ, and will compensate when there are problems.
  • where: This is the same principle upon which victims of accidents are compensated where someone else is to blame.

Object

  • eyepiece: So despite the fact that the CTS objectives require compensating eyepieces the camera captured the features quite well.
  • victim: He also accused today's insurance industry of a cynical attempt to avoid compensating asbestos victims.
  • claimant: The Defendant: The defendant's task is to compensate the claimant for his losses.
  • fisherman: This economic potential could be realized in several ways and used to compensate fishermen for changing fishing techniques, targets and fishing areas.
  • farmer: However, to compensate farmers for the loss of subsidy, produce prices have been raised.
  • landowner: Peasants refused to wait for government decrees that compensated the rich landowners - they seized the land for themselves.

Preposition: for

  • inadequacy: This already touches on a second point: in a conversation we are always compensating for past inadequacies.
  • loss: The allowance is designed to compensate for loss of earning capacity.
  • shortfall: Simultaneously universities must attempt to increase class sizes to compensate for the general shortfall in income.
  • deficiency: Training alone is unlikely to compensate for other deficiencies.
  • lack: The Lucia effectively compensates for the lack of natural daylight.
  • shortcoming: At the informal level it may just be a coping strategy to compensate for the shortcomings of the system.

Modifying Another Word

  • amply: The value of the benefits of this package has more than amply compensated for the increase in National Insurance paid.
  • adequately: There is a marginal impairment but any difficulties can be adequately compensated for through his right eye.
  • financially: But at the same time, senior staff are financially compensated for their lack of job security.
  • partially: These measures were partially compensated by significant capital gains made in 2001.
  • partly: To partly compensate we seconded a Japanese research fellow from Kawasaki within our research team meetings.
  • automatically: Thus the machine compensates automatically for the variation in board loading position.