Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Compensation
Comˊpen-sa′tion
,Noun.
[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.
Syn. – Recompense; reward; indemnification; consideration; requital; satisfaction; set-off.
Webster 1828 Edition
Compensation
COMPENSATION
, n.1.
That which is given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, want, loss, or suffering; amends; remuneration; recompense.All other debts may compensation find.
The pleasures of life are no compensation for the loss of divine favor and protection.
2.
In law, a set-off; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount.