compensation
Other forms: compensations
Compensation means "making up for something." When a restaurant offers you a free dessert as compensation for messing up your dinner order, the hope is that you will leave happy (and refrain from writing a negative review online).
Compensation can also be money, a payment meant to give someone a fair exchange for their effort and output. In fact, the word comes from the Latin word compensat-, meaning "weighed against." If you receive fair compensation for your work, the money is equal to your time and effort. In other words, the scale is balanced.
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the act of compensating for service, loss, or injurysynonyms: recompensetypes:indemnificationan act of compensation for actual loss or damage or for trouble and annoyancetype of:
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something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury)types:overcompensationexcessive compensationworkmen's compensationcompensation for death or injury suffered by a worker in the course of his employmentreimbursementcompensation paid (to someone) for damages or losses or money already spent etc.emolumentcompensation received by virtue of holding an office or having employment (usually in the form of wages or fees)blood moneycompensation paid to the family of a murdered personamends, damages, indemnification, indemnity, redress, restitutiona sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injuryreparation(usually plural) compensation exacted from a defeated nation by the victorsreparationcompensation (given or received) for an insult or injuryrelief(law) redress awarded by a courtactual damages, compensatory damages, general damages(law) compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensatednominal damages(law) a trivial sum (usually $1.00) awarded as recognition that a legal injury was sustained (as for technical violations of a contract)exemplary damages, punitive damages, smart money(law) compensation in excess of actual damages (a form of punishment awarded in cases of malicious or willful misconduct)allowancea sum granted as reimbursement for expensesbreakagereimbursement for goods damaged while in transit or in usecostspecuniary reimbursement to the winning party for the expenses of litigationtype of:recompensepayment or reward (as for service rendered)
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(psychiatry) a defense mechanism that conceals your undesirable shortcomings by exaggerating desirable behaviorstypes:overcompensation(psychiatry) an attempt to overcome a real or imagined defect or unwanted trait by overly exaggerating its oppositetype of:defence, defence mechanism, defence reaction, defense, defense mechanism, defense reaction(psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires
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Vocabulary lists containing compensation
Learn these words to better understand the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution ratified by Congress on December 15, 1791. Read the full text here.
Be careful what you wish for! In this horror story, a cursed monkey's paw delivers three wishes to its owners — but each of its gifts comes with a terrible price. Read the full text here.
As you read W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," learn this word list. Here are links to lists for texts in Grade 8's Collection 2: The Tell-Tale Heart, Scary Tales, The Monkey's Paw, What Is the Horror Genre?