Definition

1. Noun:
   • Compensation given or received for a wrong or injury: "Reparation" refers to something done or given to make amends for a wrong, damage, or loss that has been caused.
   • The act of repairing or restoring something to good condition: It can also mean the process of fixing or mending something that is broken or damaged.
   • (Usually plural) Payments demanded from a defeated nation: In historical and political contexts, "reparations" often refers to the compensation, typically monetary, that a victorious country requires from a defeated country after a war.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The company offered financial reparation to the victims of the accident.
  • The reparation of the ancient monument took several years.
  • The treaty imposed heavy war reparations on the defeated nation.

Advanced Usage

• "Make reparation for": to compensate or make amends for a wrong.
  • He sought to make reparation for his past mistakes.
• "Beyond reparation": damaged to such an extent that it cannot be fixed or compensated for.
  • The trust between them was broken beyond reparation.

Variants and Related Words

• Reparative (adj): relating to or effecting repair or reparation.
  • The process has a reparative effect on the community.
• Repair (v/n): the more common verb and noun for fixing something. "Reparation" is often used for more formal, legal, or moral contexts of making amends.

Synonyms

• Compensation: Something, typically money, awarded to someone for loss, suffering, or injury.
• Restitution: The restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner, or recompense for injury or loss.
• Redress: Remedying or setting right an undesirable or unfair situation.
• Amends: Compensation for a loss or wrong.

Related Phrases

• War reparations: (Compound noun) Compensation payments made after a war by the defeated country.
  • The war reparations crippled the nation's economy for decades.
• Reparations movement: (Compound noun) A social or political campaign seeking compensation for historical injustices.
  • She is an advocate for the reparations movement.

Related Idioms

• Atonement and reparation: Often used together in religious or moral contexts to describe the act of making amends for sins or wrongs.
  • His life's work was an act of atonement and reparation for his youth.

Noun

1. something done or paid in expiation of a wrong
   • how can I make amends
2. the act of putting something in working order again
3. (usually plural) compensation exacted from a defeated nation by the victors
   • Germany was unable to pay the reparations demanded after World War I
4. compensation (given or received) for an insult or injury
   • an act for which there is no reparation