recompense means an equivalent returned for anything given, done, or suffered; compensation; reward; amends; requital. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 72 out of 100.
recompense is pronounced /ˈɹɛkəmˌpɛns/.
Why “recompense” is a great word
RECOMPENSE — [Noun, Verb] Compensation or reward given in return for service, loss, or suffering. From Middle English recompense, borrowed from Old French recompense and Medieval Latin recompensa, from Late Latin recompensare, meaning 'to weigh again' or 'to compensate', from Latin re- ('again') and compensare ('to weigh together, balance'). First attested in English in the late 14th to early 15th century. Unlike "compensate," which neutrally denotes an equivalent payment, or "remunerate," which specifies a transactional wage, recompense carries the quiet gravity of a moral settling of accounts. It is the worn coin pressed into a veteran's palm long after the war, the planting of an orchard where a house once burned, the unexpected kindness that arrives not as a gift but as belated equilibrium—the universe's slow, imperfect attempt at counterweight.
Etymology
From Middle English recompense, borrowed from Old French recompense or Medieval Latin recompensa.
noun
- An equivalent returned for anything given, done, or suffered; compensation; reward; amends; requital.
- That which compensates for an injury, or other type of harm or damage.“He offered money as recompense for the damage, but what the injured party wanted was an apology.”
verb
- 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 […]”
- 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.”
- To give (something) in return; to pay back; to pay, as something earned or deserved.“Recompense to no man evil for evil.”