noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An excess amount provided in one area in an effort to overcome a perceived lack in another area. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   excessive compensation wordnet
3. 3
   Excessive pay or reward provided for work performed. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   (psychiatry) an attempt to overcome a real or imagined defect or unwanted trait by overly exaggerating its opposite wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alienationautismautistic thinkingavoidance mechanismblame-shiftingcompensation

Etymology

From over- + compensation.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.