Recompense
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An equivalent returned for anything given, done, or suffered; compensation; reward; amends; requital. countable, uncountable
- 2 the act of compensating for service or loss or injury wordnet
- 3 That which compensates for an injury, or other type of harm or damage. countable, uncountable
"He offered money as recompense for the damage, but what the injured party wanted was an apology."
- 4 payment or reward (as for service rendered) wordnet
- 1 To reward or repay (someone) for something done, given etc.
"She in regard thereof him recompenst / With golden words, and goodly countenance, / And such fond fauours sparingly dispenst […]"
- 2 make payment to; compensate wordnet
- 3 To give compensation for an injury, or other type of harm or damage.
"The judge ordered the defendant to recompense the plaintiff by paying $100."
- 4 make amends for; pay compensation for wordnet
- 5 To give (something) in return; to pay back; to pay, as something earned or deserved. transitive
"Recompense to no man evil for evil."
Example
More examples""Thou, who alone Troy's sorrows deign'st to hear, / and us, the gleanings of the Danaan spear, / poor world-wide wanderers and in desperate case, / has ta'en to share thy city and thy cheer, / meet thanks nor we, nor what of Dardan race / yet roams the earth, can give to recompense thy grace.""
Etymology
From Middle English recompense, borrowed from Old French recompense or Medieval Latin recompensa.
From Middle English recompensen, borrowed from Old French recompenser, from Late Latin recompensare, from Latin re- (“again”) + compensare (“to balance out”).
Related phrases
More for "recompense"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.