compensate

com·pen·sate

verb

To compensate is to pay someone for services performed, to repay someone for some wrong or that something positive exists to make up for something negative.

An example of compensate is when you pay the guy who mowed your lawn.
An example of compensate is when you make your wife angry and you compensate for your bad behavior by doing something very nice.
An example of compensate is when you injure someone in a car accident and you pay their medical bills.
An example of compensate is beautiful scenery on high priced lots.

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"Compensate." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate.

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Compensate. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate

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compensate

transitive verb

-·sat·ed, -·sat·ing

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

Origin of compensate

from Classical Latin compensatus, past participle of compensare, to weigh one thing against another from com-, with + pensare, frequentative of pendere, to weigh: see pendant

to make or serve as compensation or amends (for)
1. to make an adjustment, or otherwise act, so as to balance or offset something: a golfer compensating for the wind by altering her swing
2. to serve to balance or offset something: an altered swing that compensates for the wind
Psychol. to engage in compensation

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MLA Style

"Compensate." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate.

APA Style

Compensate. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate

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compensate

verb

com·pen·sat·ed, com·pen·sat·ing, com·pen·sates

verb

transitive

To offset; counterbalance.
To make satisfactory payment or reparation to; recompense or reimburse: Management compensated us for the time we worked.
To stabilize the purchasing power of (a monetary unit) by changing the gold content in order to counterbalance price variations.

verb

intransitive

To serve as or provide a substitute or counterbalance.

Origin of compensate

Latin compēnsāre compēnsāt- com- com- pēnsāre to weigh ; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

com′pen·sa′tive
adjective

com′pen·sa′tor
noun

com·pen′sa·to′ry
adjective

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"Compensate." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate.

APA Style

Compensate. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Compensate

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Verb

(third-person singular simple present compensates, present participle compensating, simple past and past participle compensated)

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.
(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.
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.

Origin

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”).

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.