compensate
/'kɔmpenseit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (Transitive):
- To provide something, typically money, to someone as a recompense for loss, injury, or work done.
- To make amends for a wrong, loss, or deficiency.
- To counterbalance or offset something undesirable by having an equal and opposite effect.
Verb (Intransitive):
- To act in a way that counteracts or makes up for a real or perceived deficiency, weakness, or frustration.
Usage and Examples
To pay or reimburse:
- The company will compensate you for your travel expenses.
- Workers must be fairly compensated for their labor.
To make amends or rectify a wrong:
- No amount of money can truly compensate for the loss of a loved one.
- The new policy aims to compensate victims of the injustice.
To counterbalance or offset:
- The car's excellent safety features compensate for its high price.
- His intelligence compensates for his lack of experience.
Intransitive use (to overcorrect a perceived flaw):
- He tries to compensate for his shyness by being overly talkative in meetings.
Advanced Usage
- "To compensate for": This is the most common phrasal construction, meaning to make up for a deficiency or to offset something.
- She works extra hours to compensate for her late start on the project.
- The government lowered taxes to compensate for rising inflation.
Variants and Related Words
Compensation (n): Something, typically money, awarded to someone as a recompense for loss, injury, or suffering.
- He received financial compensation for the accident.
Compensatory (adj): Intended to compensate or make amends.
- The court awarded compensatory damages.
Compensable (adj): Entitling someone to compensation.
- A compensable injury under workers' insurance.
Synonyms
- Reimburse: To repay (money spent).
- Remunerate: To pay someone for services rendered or work done.
- Indemnify: To secure against legal liability for one's actions; to compensate for damage or loss.
- Offset: To counterbalance or compensate for.
- Atone: To make amends or reparation for a wrong.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Compensate for: As detailed in the 'Advanced Usage' section, this is the primary phrasal verb form.
Related Idioms
- "To overcompensate": To try excessively hard to correct a weakness, often resulting in an opposite imbalance.
- Because he felt insecure about his height, he overcompensated by being overly aggressive.
Verb
- make payment to; compensate
- My efforts were not remunerated
- do or give something to somebody in return
- Does she pay you for the work you are doing?
- make reparations or amends for
- right a wrongs done to the victims of the Holocaust
- make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities
- he is compensating for being a bad father
- make amends for; pay compensation for
- One can never fully repair the suffering and losses of the Jews in the Third Reich
- She was compensated for the loss of her arm in the accident
- adjust for
- engineers will work to correct the effects or air resistance