FromMiddle Englishcompensacioun, fromOld Frenchcompensacion, fromLatincompensātiōnem, accusative singular ofcompensātiō.

• (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/ˌkɒm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/,/ˌkɒm.pɛnˈseɪ.ʃən/
• (General American)IPA^(key):/ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/

  Audio(US):

  (file)

• (General Australian)IPA^(key):/ˌkɔm.penˈsæɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes:-eɪʃən,-æɪʃən

compensation (countable anduncountable,pluralcompensations)

1. The act or principle ofcompensating.

   Synonyms:restitution,recompensation

   • 1841,Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation”, inEssays:

     Human labor, through all its forms, from the sharpening of a stake to the construction of a city or an epic, is one immense illustration of the perfectcompensation of the universe.

2. Something which is regarded as anequivalent; something which compensates forloss.

   Synonyms:amends,remuneration,recompense,recompensation

   • 1827, Henry Hallam,The Constitutional History of England from the Accession ofHenry VII. to the Death ofGeorge II. […], volume(please specify |volume=I or II), London:John Murray, […],→OCLC:

     The parliament which dissolved the monastic foundations[…] vouchsafed not a word toward securing the slightestcompensation to the dispossessed owners.

   • 1796,Edmund Burke,A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London:[…] J. Owen, […], andF[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […],→OCLC:

     No pecuniarycompensation can possibly reward them.

3. (finance) Theextinction ofdebts of which two persons arereciprocallydebtors by thecredits of which they are reciprocallycreditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount.

   Synonym:set-off

4. Arecompense orreward for service.

   Synonyms:restitution,recompensation

5. (real estate) Anequivalentstipulated for incontracts for the sale ofreal estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall notavoid, but shall be thesubject of compensation.
6. Therelationship between airtemperature outside a building and a calculated target temperature forprovision of air or water to contained rooms or spaces for the purpose of efficient heating. In building control systems, the compensationcurve isdefined to acompensator for this purpose.
7. (neuroscience) Theability of one part of thebrain tooverfunction in order to take over the function of a damaged part (e.g. following astroke).

   Coordinate term:degeneracy

• compensate

• camponotines,companion set

Borrowed fromLatincompēnsātiōnem.

• IPA^(key):/kɔ̃.pɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

compensation f (pluralcompensations)

1. compensation

• compenser

• “compensation”, inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.