Library / English Dictionary

COMPENSATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make payment to; compensate

Example:

My efforts were not remunerated

Synonyms:

compensate; recompense; remunerate

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compensate"):

recoup; reimburse (reimburse or compensate (someone), as for a loss)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

compensation (the act of compensating for service or loss or injury)

compensation (something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make amends for; pay compensation for

Example:

She was compensated for the loss of her arm in the accident

Synonyms:

compensate; indemnify; recompense; repair

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compensate"):

give (deliver in exchange or recompense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

compensation (the act of compensating for service or loss or injury)

compensation (something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Do or give something to somebody in return

Example:

Does she pay you for the work you are doing?

Synonyms:

compensate; make up; pay; pay off

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

settle (dispose of; make a financial settlement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

compensation (the act of compensating for service or loss or injury)

compensation (something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make reparations or amends for

Example:

right a wrongs done to the victims of the Holocaust

Synonyms:

compensate; correct; redress; right

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compensate"):

over-correct; overcompensate (make excessive corrections for fear of making an error)

aby; abye; atone; expiate (make amends for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Also:

compensate (adjust for)

Derivation:

compensation (the act of compensating for service or loss or injury)

compensation (something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Adjust for

Example:

engineers will work to correct the effects or air resistance

Synonyms:

compensate; correct; counterbalance; even off; even out; even up; make up

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

balance; equilibrate; equilibrise; equilibrize (bring into balance or equilibrium)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compensate"):

carry (compensate for a weaker partner or member by one's own performance)

compensate; cover; overcompensate (make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

compensation (the act of compensating for service or loss or injury)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities

Example:

he is compensating for being a bad father

Synonyms:

compensate; cover; overcompensate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "compensate" is one way to...):

compensate; correct; counterbalance; even off; even out; even up; make up (adjust for)

Verb group:

cover; insure; underwrite (protect by insurance)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

compensation ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that conceals your undesirable shortcomings by exaggerating desirable behaviors)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The light-switchable cells are designed to compensate for the lower insulin production or reduced insulin response found in diabetic individuals.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

What’s remarkable about these patients is how much their nervous systems compensate for their lack of touch and body awareness.

(“Sixth sense” may be more than just a feeling, NIH)

Any deals you make or assignments you work on should compensate you generously.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The hunters were snickering, but she looked at me with a sympathy in her eyes which more than compensated for Wolf Larsen’s nastiness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I don't think she can ever have been pretty; but, for aught I know, she may possess originality and strength of character to compensate for the want of personal advantages.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As any economic activity is banned from the conservation units surveyed, the population living or working in the area should be compensated and resettled.

(Brazilian savanna unprotected, study finds, Agência Brasil)

A rare inherited vascular disorder characterized by constriction of arteries at the base of the brain, resulting in the formation of collateral circulation in order to compensate for the constriction.

(Moyamoya Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

The glory of lodging over this structure would have compensated him, I dare say, for many inconveniences; but, as there were really few to bear, beyond the compound of flavours I have already mentioned, and perhaps the want of a little more elbow-room, he was perfectly charmed with his accommodation.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Nature has denied him the highest gifts, and I find him adverse to employing the compensating advantages of art; but, at least, I have shown him something of life, and I have taught him a few lessons in finesse and deportment which may appear to be wasted upon him at present, but which, none the less, may come back to him in his more mature years.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)