com·pen·sa·tion   (kŏm'pən-sā'shən)    n.   The act of compensating or the state of being compensated. Something, such as money, given or received as payment or reparation, as for a service or loss. Biology The increase in size or activity of one part of an organism or organ that makes up for the loss or dysfunction of another. Psychology Behavior that develops either consciously or unconsciously to offset a real or imagined deficiency, as in personality or physical ability. com'pen·sa'tion·al adj.

Compensation

Com`pen*sa"tion\, n. [L. compensatio a weighing, a balancing of accounts.]

1. The act or principle of compensating. --Emerson.

2. That which constitutes, or is regarded as, an equivalent; that which makes good the lack or variation of something else; that which compensates for loss or privation; amends; remuneration; recompense.

The parliament which dissolved the monastic foundations . . . vouchsafed not a word toward securing the slightest compensation to the dispossessed owners. --Hallam.

No pecuniary compensation can possibly reward them. --Burke.

3. (Law) (a) The extinction of debts of which two persons are reciprocally debtors by the credits of which they are reciprocally creditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount; a set-off. --Bouvier. --Wharton. (b) A recompense or reward for some loss or service. (c) An equivalent stipulated for in contracts for the sale of real estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall not avoid, but shall be the subject of compensation.

Compensation balance, or Compensated balance, a kind of balance wheel for a timepiece. The rim is usually made of two different metals having different expansibility under changes of temperature, so arranged as to counteract each other and preserve uniformity of movement.

Compensation pendulum. See Pendulum.

Syn: Recompense; reward; indemnification; consideration; requital; satisfaction; set-off.

Main Entry: com·pen·sa·tion
Pronunciation: "käm-p&n-'sA-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the act of compensating
2 in the civil law of Louisiana : the ending of mutual obligations between two people for money or quantities of fungible things usually by operation of law but sometimes by an agreement
3 : something that makes up for a loss compensation for the breach of contract>; specifically : payment to unemployed or injured workers or their dependents —see also UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION, WORKERS' COMPENSATION
4 : payment for a thing of value tendered or a service rendered compensation for their services —U.S. Constitution article I>

Main Entry: com·pen·sa·tion
Pronunciation: "käm-p&n-'sA-sh&n, -"pen-
Function: noun
1 : correction of an organicdefect by excessive development or by increased functioning of another organ or unimpaired parts of the same organ compensation> —see DECOMPENSATION
2 : a psychological mechanism by which feelings of inferiority, frustration, or failurein one field are counterbalanced by achievement in another

compensation com·pen·sa·tion (kŏm'pən-sā'shən)
n.

1. A process in which a tendency for a change in a given direction is counteracted by another change so that the original change is not evident.
2. An unconscious psychological mechanism by which one tries to make up for imagined or real deficiencies in personality or physical ability.