compensationn.
/kɒmpənˈseɪʃən/ 1.
a. The action of compensating, or condition of being compensated; counterbalance, rendering of an equivalent, requital, recompense.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > compensation
compensation1387
countervailment1594
supererogating1617
equation1666
compensating1668
upmaking1669
requital1885
weightage1906
1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Rolls) VIII. 211 His sustres þat were his heyres hadde oþer londes þerfore in compensacioun.
1597 F. Bacon Ess. f. 27 If euill be in the one and comfort in the other, it is a kind of compensation.
1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. 218 Obliged to the compensation of what is lost by Roberies.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. viii. 312 Some articles capable of becoming manure are introduced in compensation.
1876 J. B. Mozley Serm. preached Univ. of Oxf. ix. 188 The Spartan idea of human life was one of strict compensation..you must fight for the State if the State is to keep you.
b. Mechanics. The balance or neutralization of opposing forces.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > equilibrium > physical balance
balance1667
compensation1789
the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > compensation > mechanical
compensation1789
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > dynamics > statics > [noun] > equal balance of opposing forces > action of
compensation1789
1789 W. Nicholson Electr. in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 79 283 Whenever a jar is charged, the greatest part of the electricity becomes latent on account of the compensation.
1831 D. Brewster Treat. Optics xxiii. 204 The..axes along which there is no double refraction or polarisation..have been called..axes of compensation.
1837 D. Brewster Treat. Magnetism 354 A more perfect compensation in the action of two needles.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 600/2 Adjustment of the screws..rendering this compensation a tedious..operation.
c. Medicine. (See quot. 1882.)
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1881 A. Flint Treat. Princ. Med. (ed. 5) 334 The stage of compensation..may last for years.
1882 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Compensation.. those conditions by which the effects of congenital or acquired disease are warded off. It may be observed in cases of cardiac or hepatic disease.
d. The neutralization of one magnetomotive or electromotive force by another; the modification of an electrical device or circuit in order to remove some undesired characteristic or effect.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > circuit > [noun] > modification
compensation1855
1855 W. H. Preece Brit. Patent 2608 By adjusting the distance of the coils from the needles, a complete compensation is effected.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy v. 142 The other half, which is called the compensation current, passes around the electromagnet..and back to the battery.
1909 C. F. Smith Pract. Altern. Currents (ed. 4) 415 Compensation for Armature Reaction.
1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors x. 120 Response of circuit before compensation.
e. Psychology. The act or result of compensating (compensate v. 5). Also attributive.
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the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of personality > making up for defect > [noun]
compensation1914
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of personality > making up for defect > [adjective]
compensating1914
compensation1914
compensatory1921
1914 C. G. Jung in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 Dec. 965/1 In the case of normal people the principal function of the unconscious is to effect a compensation and thus produce a balance. All extreme conscious tendencies are softened..through an effective opposite impulse in the unconscious. This compensating agency..maintains itself through certain unconscious, inconsequent activities.
1917 S. E. Jeliffe (title) tr. Adler's Study of organ inferiority and its psychical compensation.
1921 E. J. Kempf Psychopathol. (new ed.) v. 197 The symptoms of the compensation neuroses are characterized by striving, egotism, intolerance, [etc.].
1921 E. J. Kempf Psychopathol. (new ed.) xi. 551 It is the second type that makes the asocial compensation.
1924 P. Radin tr. Adler Pract. & Theory Individual Psychol. xviii. 224 Napoleon, Jesus, Jeanne d'Arc, the Virgin,..etc. are frequent compensation-ideals of the intensified lust for superiority.
1929 A. Adler Probl. Neurosis v. 66 If the situation is unfavourable and courage fails, there will be a negative compensation—e.g., the child will not want to see anything.
1930 J. C. Flügel Psychol. of Clothes vi. 102 Such little evidence as I possess points to the excessive satisfaction with clothes being a compensation for an extreme intolerance of the naked body.
1959 Encycl. Brit. VII. 136/2 Compensation..reduces tensions by substituting some other need-satisfaction for the one that is frustrated or induces anxiety.
1961 John o' London's 18 May 567/3 A really catatonic compensation-fantasy.
2.
a. That which is given in recompense, an equivalent rendered, remuneration, amends.
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a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 2 If I haue too austerely punish'd you, Your compensation makes amends. View more context for this quotation
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. vi. 63 The compensation which the borrower pays to the lender. View more context for this quotation
1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany (ed. 2) II. 505 They accepted compensation in money or in kind.
1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz 59 Pains with sorry compensations.
b. Amends or recompense for loss or damage.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > compensation > [noun]
yield601
angildeOE
maegboteOE
allowancea1325
finea1400
boota1450
reparationa1460
contentation1467
disdomage1502
contention1516
regard1568
contentment1603
atonement-money1611
satisfaction1621
satisfaction money1651
content1689
compensation1804
smart money1817
hoot1820
indemnization1836
compo1941
MCA1973
1804 Earl of Lauderdale Inq. Nature & Origin Public Wealth iii. 158 A proprietor..entitled to a compensation for what his capital would have produced him.
1850 F. W. Robertson Serm. (1872) 3rd Ser. ii. 27 Men think that heaven is to be a compensation for earthly loss.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xviii. 130 Determined to make us some compensation for the loss.
1891 N.E.D. at Compensation Mod. He has sued the Railway Company for compensation. They will receive compensation for disturbance.
c. Civil Law. (See quot. 1848.)
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1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 122/2 Compensation..a sort of right by set-off, whereby a person who has been sued for a debt, demands that the debt may be compensated with what is owing to him by the creditor, which, in that case, is equivalent to payment.
d. Salary or wages, esp. of a public servant; payment for services rendered. U.S.
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1787 Constitution (U.S.) i. §6 The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services to be..paid out of the Treasury of the U.S.
1793 Deb. Congress 1431 The compensation of the President of the United States shall be at the rate of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum.
1842 C. Dickens Amer. Notes I. viii. 301 The Presidential housemaids have..an ample amount of ‘compensation:’ which is the American word for salary, in the case of all public servants.
1931 W. G. McAdoo Crowded Years xiii. 205 The compensation of an assistant secretary of the Treasury was the small salary of five thousand dollars.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
compensation act n.
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1882 (title) Commonable Rights Compensation Act.
compensation house n.
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1888 Daily News 30 Nov. 2/1 The water passing through the masonry in a twenty-inch pipe, and into a compensation house, where..the millions of gallons that have to escape can be measured to a nicety.
compensation jury n.
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1866 C. Collins Mugby Junction vi, in All Year Round Extra Christmas No.,10 Dec. 28/2 The value of the house had been referred to what was popularly called ‘a compensation jury’.
compensation water n.
C2.
compensation-balance n. in a chronometer, a balance-wheel or a pendulum having arrangements which neutralize the effect of the expansion or contraction of the metal under variations of temperature.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > a counterbalance > object used as
again-weight1340
counterpoisec1430
counterweight1768
compensation-balance1805
compensation-pendulum1807
compensating-pendulum1819
compensator1837
bumper1868
counterbalance1875
1805 Hardy in Trans. Soc. Arts 23 378 We have at present two compensation balances.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 117/2 That which is most generally adopted is the expansion or compensation balance.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 600/1 Compensation Balance..invented by Harrison, of Foulby, England, who devoted himself for a long series of years—1728–1761—to the discovery.
compensation-bar n.
compensation-curb n.
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1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 66 The compensation curb was invented by Harrison, but..it is never used now.
compensation-pendulum n. = compensation-balance n.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > a counterbalance > object used as
again-weight1340
counterpoisec1430
counterweight1768
compensation-balance1805
compensation-pendulum1807
compensating-pendulum1819
compensator1837
bumper1868
counterbalance1875
1807 Ward in Trans. Soc. Arts 25 116 I send you a new compensation pendulum.
c1861 Tripplin & Rigg tr. Saunier Mod. Horol. 687 Compensation pendulums..to neutralize the effects of contraction and dilatation due to changes of temperature.
compensation point n. (see quots.).
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the world > plants > by nutrition or respiration > [noun] > photosynthesis > compensation point
compensation point1925
1925 W. Stiles Photosynthesis vii. 97 There will be a light intensity for every plant and every temperature in which the assimilation is exactly equal to the respiration, and in which, consequently, there will be neither evolution nor absorption of either carbon dioxide or oxygen. This light intensity is called the compensation point.
1964 V. J. Chapman Coastal Vegetation iii. 65 Changes of temperature can affect both photosynthesis and respiration. The point at which these two processes exactly balance, and where oxygen content remains stable, is called the compensation point.
compensation-strip n. a bar of two or more metals of different expansibilities, the expansions of which neutralize each other's effect.
compensation-stud n. etc., parts of such mechanism.
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1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 66 With the changes of temperature the compensation stud moves to and fro.
compensation water n. water supplied from a reservoir to a stream in time of drought.
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the world > the earth > water > [noun] > water available for use > supplied to stream during drought
compensation water1889
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 13 July 3/1 The bill does not provide for any storage or any compensation water to be sent down the stream.
1935 British Birds XXVIII. 329 This may have been due to the drought, and to the minimum amount of compensation water flowing from the reservoirs.
1956 J. N. Wood in D. L. Linton Sheffield 74 The remaining six impounding reservoirs provide 16·4 m.g.d. compensation water which, by statute, is required to be delivered into the streams on which the supply reservoirs have been constructed.
Draft additions January 2018
compensation culture n. a culture characterized by a readiness to seek financial compensation following an accident or injury, or (more generally) by an excessive tendency to blame others and seek redress for personal grievances or misfortunes.
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1992 Herald-Sun (Melbourne) 26 June 13/3 The system has been driven by a compensation culture, with a faceless bureaucracy between the employer and the employee.
2001 Times 28 Feb. 4/3 (caption) Critics of compensation culture say it is fed partly by lawyers who have a vested interest in creating more work.
2015 Cape Argus (Nexis) 5 May 3 Taxpayers were footing the bill for an ‘out of control’ compensation culture.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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