[kom-puh
n-sey-shuhn] 
| 1. | the act or state of compensating. |
| 2. | the state of being compensated. |
| 3. | something given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, loss, injury, suffering, lack, etc.; indemnity: The insurance company paid him $2000 as compensation for the loss of his car. |
| 4. | Biology. the improvement of any defect by the excessive development or action of another structure or organ of the same structure. |
| 5. | Psychology. a mechanism by which an individual attempts to make up for some real or imagined deficiency of personality or behavior by developing or stressing another aspect of the personality or by substituting a different form of behavior. |
| com·pen·sa·tion (kŏm'pən-sā'shən) n.
|
compensation com·pen·sa·tion (kŏm'pən-sā'shən)
n.
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.
An unconscious psychological mechanism by which one tries to make up for imagined or real deficiencies in personality or physical ability.