# compensation

Pronunciation: say "kom-puhn-SAY-shuhn" US /ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/, UK /ˌkɒm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/; AUS say "kom-pen-SAY-shuhn" /ˌkɔm.penˈsæɪ.ʃən/

## Noun

1. Payment or other rewards given in return for work or services performed.
   - Simple: Money or other rewards that a person gets for doing work.
   - _The board approved a generous compensation package for the new CEO._
   - _Total compensation at the firm includes bonuses, stock options, and benefits._
2. Something regarded as an equivalent, especially something given to make up for a loss.
   - Simple: Something given to make up for a loss or harm.
   - _Residents received compensation for the damage caused by the construction project._
   - _She considered the extra vacation days fair compensation for months of overtime._
3. The act of making up for a loss or a service, or the principle that one thing should balance another.
   - Simple: The act of giving something to make up for a loss or for work done.
   - _The court favored compensation over punishment in resolving the dispute._
   - _Modern labor law rests on the principle of compensation for work performed._
4. The canceling of debts between two parties who each owe the other, with each debt paid off by a credit of equal amount.
   - Simple: A way of ending debts when two people owe each other money, so the debts cancel out.
   - _The accountants applied compensation to clear the mutual invoices between the two firms._
   - _Compensation extinguished both loans, since each bank was creditor and debtor to the other._
5. The capacity of one part of the brain to increase its activity and take over the function of a damaged part, for example after a stroke.
   - Simple: The way one part of the brain takes over the job of a damaged part.
   - _Through compensation, undamaged regions of his brain gradually took over the language functions he had lost._
   - _Compensation tends to be stronger in younger brains, which adapt more readily after injury._
6. A price adjustment provided for in real estate sale contracts, so that errors in the property's description are corrected by payment rather than by voiding the agreement.
   - Simple: Money paid to fix small mistakes in a contract for selling land or a house, instead of canceling the deal.
   - _The contract entitled the buyer to compensation when the lot proved half an acre short._
   - _Both parties preferred compensation to the cost and delay of unwinding the sale._
7. The relationship between the outdoor air temperature and the calculated target temperature of the air or water a building's heating system supplies, used to heat spaces efficiently.
   - Simple: The way a heating system changes its target temperature based on how cold it is outside.
   - _The new controls use compensation to lower the flow temperature as the weather warms._
   - _Engineers programmed a compensation curve into the building's control system._

## Origin

From Middle English compensacioun, from Old French compensacion, from Latin compensātiōnem. It is equivalent to "compensate" plus the suffix "-ion".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/compensation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).