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compromising

/ˌkɑmprəˈmaɪzɪŋ/
/ˈkɒmprəmaɪzɪŋ/
IPA guide

Other forms: compromisingly

Something that's compromising makes you vulnerable to being embarrassed or incriminated in some way. If your teacher knows compromising information about you, you might want to ask someone else to write your college recommendation letter.

It's common for the adjective compromising to describe the noun situation. If your neighbor gets hit with a water balloon and looks up to see you leaning out of your window with another balloon in your hand, that's a compromising situation for you — it makes you look suspicious. Another way to use compromising is to mean "willing to compromise." It would be compromising of you to agree on pizza for dinner, even though you had your heart set on lasagna.

Definitions of compromising
  1. adjective
    making or willing to make concessions
    “loneliness tore through him...whenever he thought of...even the compromising Louis du Tillet”
    synonyms: conciliatory, flexible
    yielding
    tending to give in or surrender or agree
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    uncompromising
    not willing to make concessions
    hard-line, hardline
    firm and uncompromising
  2. adjective
    vulnerable to danger especially of discredit or suspicion
    “she found herself in a compromising situation”
    synonyms:
    vulnerable
    susceptible to attack
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘compromising'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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