Compensate
//ˈkɒm.pən.seɪt// verb
verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To do (something good) after (something bad) happens.
- 2 make payment to; compensate wordnet
- 3 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."
- 4 make amends for; pay compensation for wordnet
- 5 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. ambitransitive
"His loud voice cannot compensate for a lack of personality."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 do or give something to somebody in return wordnet
- 7 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."
- 8 make reparations or amends for wordnet
- 9 adjust for wordnet
- 10 make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities wordnet
Example
More examples"You must compensate him for the money he lost."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin compēnsātus, perfect passive participle of compensō (“to weight together one thing against another, balance, make good”), -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more.
Related phrases
More for "compensate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.