recompense
verbEtymology From Middle English recompensen, borrowed from Old French recompenser, from Late Latin recompensare, from Latin re- (“again”) + compensare (“to balance out”).
1
To reward or repay (someone) for something done, given etc.
- She in regard thereof him recompenst / With golden words, and goodly countenance, / And such fond fauours sparingly dispenst […]1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:
- He cannot recompense me better.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
2
To give compensation for an injury, or other type of harm or damage.
- The judge ordered the defendant to recompense the plaintiff by paying $100.
3
To give (something) in return; to pay back; to pay, as something earned or deserved.
- Recompense to no man evil for evil.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:17:
- Synonyms
- recompensate
- Derived terms
- overrecompensed, recompensable, recompensation, recompensive, underrecompensed, unrecompensed