compensate, v.
(ˈkɒmpənseɪt, kəmˈpɛnseɪt)
[f. L. compensāt- ppl. stem of compensāre to weigh one thing against another, counterbalance, etc., f. com- + pensāre, frequent. of pendĕre to weigh. Cf. compense.
The first pronunciation is that now usual in England, but appears to be quite recent; pronouncing dicts. had until c 1850–70 only the other, which is also that of the 18th c. poets. Tennyson has both: (ˈcompensated) in the Princess 1847.]
1. a. trans. To counterbalance, make up for, make amends for.
| 1656 Artif. Handsomeness (1662) 81 Those happy delusions, whereby we..compensate those our deformities. 1660 H. More Myst. Godliness 541 To compensate their neglect. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. i. 6 The benefit of it would not compensate the danger. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 181 Each seeming want compensated of course. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. i. 15 Still, to compensate toils and hazards past. 1838 De Morgan Ess. Probab. 152 The opposite errors may..compensate each other exactly. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 133 For often fineness compensated size. 1864 ― En. Ard. 249 Not being bred To barter, nor compensating the want By shrewdness. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. III. v. 378 His native strength may compensate the defects of his equipment. |
b. Const. with (an equivalent), by (an action).
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xvi. 144 She compensates the death of the father by the..murder of the mother. 1649 Roberts Clavis Bibl. 549 That they may compensate the barrennesse of the ground with the multitude of Cattell. 1672 Wilkins Nat. Relig. 20 Compensating good with good, and not with evil. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 134 Compensating his loss with added hours Of social converse. Ibid. iv. 768 Compensating his loss By supplemental shifts, the best he may. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 684 The loss of water..not being compensated by absorption from below. |
c. to a person.
| 1778 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 248 To compensate to us in the east what we have lost irrecoverably in the west. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 35 To compensate to the Venetians..the spoliation they had suffered. |
d. absol. To make compensation or amends.
| 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 176 Let us..abstain from all wickedness for the future, and duly compensate. 1774 T. Twining Recr. & Stud. (1882) 25 If it..has defects..it has beauties and delicacies which amply compensate. |
2. intr. To be an equivalent, to make up for.
| 1648 Ch.-lands not to be sold 42 What proportion of carnall things can compensate for things spirituall. a 1677 Barrow Wks. (1686) III. 75 There is in every condition somewhat of good compensating for its evils. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 434 Solicitous how best He may compensate for a day of sloth By works of darkness. a 1831 A. Knox Rem. (1844) I. 71 Which could never be compensated for by..attention. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxiii. 409 Skill might compensate for defective numbers. |
3. trans. To make equal return to, to recompense or remunerate (a person, etc.) for anything.
| 1814 Wordsw. Excursion iii. 801, I should at least secure my own, And be in part compensated. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 459 To compensate yourself for your rent and services. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 228 Navigable rivers..seem to compensate South America for its deficiency in coal-beds. |
4. a. Mech. To provide with mechanical compensation; to make up for (the variations to which a pendulum is liable). trans. and intr.
| 1819 [see compensating ppl. a. b]. 1850 E. B. Denison Rudim. Treat. Watches, etc. 84 We want therefore some contrivance which will compensate this expansion of the rod. Ibid. 274 If the pendulum is not compensated it must be of wood. 1871 B. Stewart Heat (ed. 2) 79 The first who attempted to compensate for change of length of a pendulum was Mr. Graham, an English clockmaker. |
b. Electr. To correct an electrical device or circuit for (some undesired characteristic or effect); to provide with compensation (compensation 1 d).
| 1872 J. B. Stearns Brit. Pat. 3344 2 The effect of static induction in operating either land lines or submarine cables is neutralized or compensated for. 1961 Fitzgerald & Kingsley Electr. Machinery (ed. 2) viii. 390 These limitations may be considerably extended by compensating or neutralizing the armature mmf under the pole faces. |
5. Psychol. To conceal or counterbalance a defect of character, physique, etc., or to make up for the frustration of a tendency or desire, by developing or exaggerating some other (sometimes more desirable) characteristic. trans. and intr.
| 1914 Jung in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 Dec. 964/2 We..find here these compensating vices to be an essential content of the unconscious. Obviously, therefore, the reverse is true—namely that unconscious virtues compensate for conscious deficiencies. 1921 E. J. Kempf Psychopathol. i. 69 If the cause of fear is a segmental compulsion within ourselves.., an attempt to compensate by some estimable work is reflexly initiated. 1927 Corrie ABC of Jung's Psychol. ii. 38 Here the one-sidedness of the conscious attitude is compensated by personal sensitiveness, infantile feelings, doubts, and irrational superstitions. 1927 Henderson & Gillespie Text-bk. Psychiatry vi. 111 Where the attributes of the self are conceived as lacking in some of the qualities of the ideal self, the self makes an attempt to compensate in one direction what is lacking in another. 1929 Adler Probl. Neurosis iv. 56 There are many children..who are at a..disadvantage through weak muscles and poor eyesight, but they may compensate in directions which will lead them to be acrobats or artists. 1963 J. E. Gordon Personality & Behavior iv. ix. 427 A young man afraid of marriage may compensate by specializing in dating and courting, becoming a ‘man about town’. |
Hence ˈcompensated; ˈcompensating vbl. n.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 39 Compensating, recompense. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 190 A cheap..compensated pendulum may be made with a wood rod and lead bob. 1896 D. C. & J. P. Jackson Altern. Curr. II. 316 The Westinghouse, so-called, ‘compensated voltmeter’. 1896 S. P. Thompson Dyn.-Electr. Mach. (ed. 5) 800 Compensated armatures. 1909 C. F. Smith Pract. Altern. Currents (ed. 3) xii. 427 A compensated motor will start from rest with a low power-factor. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors iii. 31 The use of compensated chambers in which there are three electrodes. |