Meaning & use
compensation check
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Meanings
nouncountable
A written order to pay someone money as payment for loss, damage, or injury.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a compensation check' or 'compensation checks'. In British English the spelling is usually 'compensation cheque'.
Patterns
- receive a compensation check
- issue a compensation check
- a compensation check for something
After the accident, the insurance company sent her a compensation check for $5,000.
The workers are still waiting for their compensation checks from the factory closure.
He deposited the compensation check at his bank the same day it arrived.
nouncountablebusiness
An act of checking or reviewing whether compensation has been paid correctly.
Grammar: Here 'check' means an inspection or review, not a bank order. Often used with verbs like 'do' or 'carry out'.
Patterns
- do a compensation check
- carry out a compensation check
- a compensation check on something
The company does a compensation check every year to make sure salaries are fair.
Auditors carried out a compensation check on all the claims from last month.
A quick compensation check showed that several employees had been underpaid.
Word forms
| plural | compensation checks |
|---|
Common combinations
- receive a compensation check
- She received a compensation check three weeks after the flood.
- issue a compensation check
- The airline issued compensation checks to all delayed passengers.
- a compensation check for
- He got a compensation check for the damage to his car.
- do a compensation check
- The manager asked HR to do a compensation check on the new hires.
Synonyms and how they differ
- settlement check
- A settlement check is usually the final payment that ends a disagreement; a compensation check is more general and can be one of several payments.
- refund check
- A refund check returns money you already paid, often because you were overcharged; a compensation check pays for a loss or injury.
- payout
- Payout is a general word for a large sum paid out, often not by check; compensation check specifically means a written bank order.
Word family
- compensate verb
- To pay someone money because of loss or damage.
- compensation noun
- Money paid to someone for loss, damage, or injury.
- compensatory adjective
- Intended to compensate for something.
Commonly confused: compensation check or compensation package? compensation check or cheque?
compensation check vs compensation package
A compensation package is the whole set of pay and benefits from a job, not a single check.
compensation check vs cheque
Cheque is the British spelling for a bank order; check is the American spelling. Both are pronounced the same.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'compensation check' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A compensation check is a written bank order paying for a loss or injury, so the bank cashing it fits. Option 1 is wrong because paying a friend back for tickets is not compensation for loss or injury — that would be a personal check. Option 2 confuses 'check' meaning inspect with the bank-order meaning. Option 3 is nonsense because a check is not food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compensation check”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.