What does compensate mean?

Definitions for compensate
ˈkɒm pənˌseɪtcom·pen·sate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word compensate.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. compensate, counterbalance, correct, make up, even out, even off, even upverb

    adjust for

    "engineers will work to correct the effects or air resistance"

  2. compensate, recompense, repair, indemnifyverb

    make amends for; pay compensation for

    "One can never fully repair the suffering and losses of the Jews in the Third Reich"; "She was compensated for the loss of her arm in the accident"

  3. cover, compensate, overcompensateverb

    make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities

    "he is compensating for being a bad father"

  4. right, compensate, redress, correctverb

    make reparations or amends for

    "right a wrongs done to the victims of the Holocaust"

  5. pay, pay off, make up, compensateverb

    do or give something to somebody in return

    "Does she pay you for the work you are doing?"

  6. compensate, recompense, remunerateverb

    make payment to; compensate

    "My efforts were not remunerated"

Wiktionary

  1. compensateverb

    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.

  2. compensateverb

    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.

  3. compensateverb

    To adjust or adapt to a change; often a negative, (harmful, or depriving) or undesired one.

  4. Etymology: From compensatus, past participle of compensare, from com- + pensare.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To COMPENSATEverb

    To recompense; to be equivalent to; to counterballance; to countervail; to make amends for.

    Etymology: compenso, Lat.

    The length of the night, and the dews thereof, do compensate the heat of the day. Francis Bacon, Natural History, №. 398.

    The pleasures of life do not compensate the miseries. Matthew Prior.

    Nature to these, without profusion kind,
    The proper organs, proper pow’rs assign’d;
    Each seeming want compensated of course,
    Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force. Alexander Pope.

ChatGPT

  1. compensate

    Compensate means to provide something, often money, to make up for a loss, injury, or suffering. It can also mean to counterbalance or offset something such as a disadvantage or a defect.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Compensateverb

    to make equal return to; to remunerate; to recompense; to give an equivalent to; to requite suitably; as, to compensate a laborer for his work, or a merchant for his losses

  2. Compensateverb

    to be equivalent in value or effect to; to counterbalance; to make up for; to make amends for

  3. Compensateverb

    to make amends; to supply an equivalent; -- followed by for; as, nothing can compensate for the loss of reputation

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Compensate

    kom′pen-sāt, or kom-pen′sāt, v.t. to reward suitably: to make amends for: to recompense: to counterbalance.—n. Compensā′tion, act of compensating: reward for service: amends for loss sustained: (phys.) the neutralisation of opposing forces.—adjs. Compen′sative, Compen′satory, giving compensation.—n. Com′pensātor, one who or that which compensates.—Compensation balance, pendulum, a balance-wheel or pendulum so constructed as to counteract the effect of the expansion and contraction of the metal under variation of temperature. [L. com, inten., and pensāre, freq. of pendĕre, to weigh.]

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'compensate' in Verbs Frequency: #888

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of compensate in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of compensate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of compensate in a Sentence

  1. Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker:

    I believe this is the right way for my compensation to be set - at risk, based entirely on the results achieved, and in the same currency that our shareholders receive, the target amount will remain approximately 20 percent below my peers at Delta and United until all of our team members have joint contracts that compensate as well or better than those airlines.

  2. Audrey Wendt:

    There's a period of time when patients often get really restless. It's horrible to see, the body knows something is very wrong. It's trying to compensate, but it just can't.

  3. Polish Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek:

    The level of rates currently suggests we are in this for the long haul, certainly for a generation, certainly more than a decade, looking at Japan, a big part of the slowdown was demographics. But in Japan the growth of public debt was there to compensate - is Europe prepared for that? I don't know.

  4. Mark Belford:

    Perhaps the reason the Abercrombie deal didn’t get done was that they’ve got way too many stores in way too many malls that don’t make any money, and the cost to unwind those pieces and get out of those stores is just too great to compensate for the upside.

  5. Carlos Pellegrini:

    It is extremely difficult in a single study to account for every variable that impacts performance, the studies here add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that surgeons, particularly experienced surgeons, can devise techniques to compensate for sleep disruption.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

compensate#10000#15260#100000

Translations for compensate

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"compensate." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 23 Jan. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/compensate>.

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    relating to or involving money
    A pecuniary
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