different between compensation vs retribution

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French compensacion, from Latin compens?ti?nem, accusative singular of compens?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?mp?n?se???n/

• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

compensation (countable and uncountable, plural compensations)

1. The act or principle of compensating.

   Synonym: restitution

2. Something which is regarded as an equivalent; something which compensates for loss.

   Synonyms: amends, remuneration, recompense

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     The parliament which dissolved the monastic foundations […] vouchsafed not a word toward securing the slightest compensation to the dispossessed owners.

   • 1796, Edmund Burke, a letter to a noble lord

     No pecuniary compensation can possibly reward them.

3. (finance) 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.

   Synonym: set-off

4. A recompense or reward for service.

   Synonym: restitution

5. (real estate) 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.
6. The relationship between air temperature outside a building and a calculated target temperature for provision of air or water to contained rooms or spaces for the purpose of efficient heating. In building control systems, the compensation curve is defined to a compensator for this purpose.
7. (neuroscience) The ability of one part of the brain to overfunction in order to take over the function of a damaged part (e.g. following a stroke).

   Coordinate term: degeneracy

Derived terms

Related terms

• compensate

Translations

Anagrams

• camponotines, companion set

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin comp?ns?ti?, comp?ns?ti?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.p??.sa.sj??/

Noun

compensation f (plural compensations)

1. compensation

Related terms

• compenser

English

Etymology

From Latin retribuere (“repay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t???bju??n/

Noun

retribution (countable and uncountable, plural retributions)

1. Punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance.
   • 1983, Richard A. Posner, The economics of justicem p.208:

     Whereas retribution focuses on the offender's wrong, retaliation focuses on the impulse of the victim (or of those who sympathize with him) to strike back at the offender.

   • 1999, Barbara Hanawalt, Medieval crime and social control, p.73:

     1. Revenge is for an injury; retribution is for a wrong.

     2. Retribution sets an internal limit to the amount of the punishment according to the seriousness of the wrong; revenge need not.

     3. Revenge is personal; the agent of retribution need have no special or personal tie to the victim of the wrong for which he exacts retribution.

     4. Revenge involves a particular emotional tone, pleasure in the suffering of another, while retribution need involve no emotional tone.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:revenge

Hypernyms

• punishment

Related terms

• retributionist
• retributive
• retributionary
• retributory

Translations