different between liability vs compensate

English

Etymology

From liable +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la???b?l?ti/
• Hyphenation: li?abil?ity

Noun

liability (countable and uncountable, plural liabilities)

1. An obligation, debt or responsibility owed to someone.
   • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw

     "I was to say that Maw and Meggins disclaim all responsibility," continued the other. "They admit no liability at all, but in consideration of your son's services they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation."

2. A handicap that holds something back, a drawback, someone or something that is a burden to whoever is required to take care of them; an individual or action that exposes others to greater risk.
   • 2016 January 31, "Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?," Vanity Fair (retrieved 21 January 2016):

     Asked if at some point Huma becomes a liability to Hillary, the long-term Clinton insider replies, “It’s like anything else. I don’t think so, but you know I don’t have any idea. Hillary is very loyal, but she’s obviously pragmatic.”

3. The likelihood of something happening.
4. The condition of being susceptible to something.

Antonyms

• asset

Derived terms

• enterprise liability
• limited liability
• limited liability company
• secondary liability
• strict liability
• vicarious liability

Translations

Anagrams

• alibility

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin compensatus, past participle of compensare (“to weight together one thing against another, balance, make good, later also shorten, spare”), from com- (“together”) + pensare (“to weight”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?m.p?n.se?t/, /?k?m.p?n.se?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?m.p?n?se?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t

Verb

compensate (third-person singular simple present compensates, present participle compensating, simple past and past participle compensated)

1. To do (something good) after (something bad) happens
2. To pay or reward someone in exchange for work done or some other consideration.

   It is hard work, but they will compensate you well for it.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To make up for; to do something in place of something else; to correct, satisfy; to reach an agreement such that the scales are literally or (metaphorically) balanced; to equalize or make even.

   His loud voice cannot compensate for a lack of personality.

   To compensate me for his tree landing on my shed, my neighbor paved my driveway.

   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon on the Vanity of the World, Preface

     The pleasures of life do not compensate the miseries.

4. To adjust or adapt to a change, often a harm or deprivation.

   I don't like driving that old car because it always steers a little to the left so I'm forever compensating for that when I drive it. Trust me, it gets annoying real fast.

   To compensate for his broken leg, Gary uses crutches.

Synonyms

• (to do something good): See Thesaurus:compensate
• (to pay): guerdon, reimburse; see also Thesaurus:reimburse
• (to adjust to a change): acclimatize, acclimate, accommodate, accustom, adapt; see also Thesaurus:accustom
• (to make up for): See Thesaurus:atone or Thesaurus:offset

Derived terms

• recompensate

Related terms

• compensation
• compensatory
• compensable
• compensably
• recompense

Translations

Further reading

• compensate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• compensate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Verb

compensate

1. second-person plural present indicative of compensare
2. second-person plural imperative of compensare
3. feminine plural of compensato

Latin

Verb

comp?ns?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of comp?ns?