Meanings
- not comparableIntended to recompense someone who has experienced loss, suffering, or injury.
- not comparableReducing or offsetting the unpleasant or unwelcome effects of something.
As long as the oppressed class does not possess the initiative but is restricted mainly to defensive action, it is apt to develop the compensatory idea that it is bound to triumph sooner or later because of 'historical laws', and that history is 'objectively' on its side.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 232 - not comparablebiologyThat compensates for a deleterious mutation.
Origin
- Frenchcompensatoire
- Englishcompensatory
Borrowed from French compensatoire. By surface analysis, compensate + -ory.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan compensatori
- compensatoriserving as compensation
French compensatoire
- compensatoireserving as compensation
Italian compensativo
- compensativoserving as compensation
Norwegian Bokmål kompensatorisk
- kompensatoriskserving as compensation
Polish kompensacyjny
- kompensacyjnyserving as compensation
Portuguese compensatório
- compensatórioserving as compensation
Slovak náhradný (voľno, dovolenka), vyrovnávací
- náhradný (voľno, dovolenka)serving as compensation
- vyrovnávacíserving as compensation
- kompenzačnýserving as compensation
Spanish compensatorio
- compensatorioserving as compensation
Cite this entry
compensatory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compensatory
“compensatory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compensatory. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “compensatory,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compensatory.
Source: compensatory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.