compromising

1. 1
   adjective

   Tending to expose someone to suspicion, blame, or shame; incriminating.

   Detectives found compromising documents tucked inside his desk drawer.

   She deleted the compromising emails before the audit began.

   Similarincriminating, damning, embarrassing, damaging

   Oppositeexculpatory, harmless

   Note

   Here the verb's harsher meaning settles into an adjective. To compromise someone is to expose them to suspicion by an act that cannot be recalled, and that irreversibility is what the word carries. A compromising photograph does its damage simply by existing and being passed on. The word pairs naturally with things that record, such as photographs, letters and documents.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of compromise.

   The two sides spent hours compromising on the final budget.

   Compromising on quality eventually cost the company its reputation.

   Note

   Both directions of the verb meet in this form, and the presence of an object usually tells them apart. With no object, or followed by on, it is the bargaining sense: two sides compromising on a budget. With a direct object it turns toward damage, as in compromising a reputation or a security system. The same spelling also serves as two adjectives, the 'willing to yield' one and the 'incriminating' one.

3. 3
   adjective

   Ready or able to settle a disagreement by giving up part of what one wants.

   A compromising leader listens to everyone before reaching a final decision.

   Her compromising attitude kept the negotiations from breaking down.

   Similaraccommodating, flexible, conciliatory, cooperative, yielding

   Oppositeuncompromising, inflexible, intransigent, obstinate

   Note

   A word for temperament rather than evidence: it praises a person or an attitude ready to meet others halfway. Its learned synonym is transigent, the positive counterpart of the familiar intransigent. Because the incriminating sense shares its spelling, it reads most clearly beside a person or a manner, such as a compromising leader or a compromising attitude, where it cannot be mistaken for something damaging.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The act of exposing something to danger, harm, or discredit.

   Like a crack in a dam: once integrity is breached, everything behind it is at risk.

   The compromising of the network led to a major data breach.

   Investigators traced the compromising of the files to an insider.

   Similarbreach, exposure

   Oppositeprotection, safeguarding

   Note

   A countable noun with a plural, compromisings, that names each separate act of giving ground or doing harm. It typically takes of plus whatever suffers. Leigh Hunt, in The Monthly Repository (1835), sets "compromisings of a sacred claim" beside treason, violence and shame. In that company the word means betrayal, not friendly concession.

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