Miscompensate
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To err when attempting to adapt to a condition.
"A background spectrum (without any sample in the infrared beam) must be obtained in order to subtract atmospheric effects on the spectrum, but sometimes, because of momentary local changes in the atmosphere, the instrument miscompensates."
- 2 To provide the wrong amount of payment as compensation.
"The author criticizes this method of damage calculation and provides examples of how it can "miscompensate" plaintiff for economic loss, leading to an inefficient deterrent effect and excessive social costs."
Example
More examples"A background spectrum (without any sample in the infrared beam) must be obtained in order to subtract atmospheric effects on the spectrum, but sometimes, because of momentary local changes in the atmosphere, the instrument miscompensates."
Etymology
From mis- + compensate.
More for "miscompensate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.