compromises

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of compromise.

   The new policy emerged from a long chain of political compromises.

   Their marriage survived because both partners accepted small daily compromises.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses of the noun, where each settlement or concession is counted as a separate thing. It carries both of the noun's moods: agreements reached through give-and-take, and damaging concessions that amount to a surrender. In security writing it also counts breaches. A network can suffer several compromises, each an incident in which sensitive information may have been disclosed or lost.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of compromise.

   He rarely compromises on matters of principle.

   A single weak link compromises the entire security system.

   Note

   It shares its spelling with the noun plural, but here it is a verb, and its meaning depends on whether an object follows. Without one, someone who compromises meets others partway between extremes. With one, the verb turns harmful: whatever compromises a reputation, a system or someone's safety impairs or exposes it, and in computing it means breaching security. To tell the two apart, look for a direct object.

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