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reparation

/ˌɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃən/noun

reparation is a noun meaning “A payment of time, effort or money to compensate for past transgression(s)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N and has 4 syllables, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of reparation is reparations.

What does reparation mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A payment of time, effort or money to compensate for past transgression(s).

  2. 2

    archaicThe act of renewing, restoring, etc., or the state of being renewed or repaired.

    the reparation of a bridge or of a highway

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce reparation?

  • /ˌɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃən/

Reparation has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-reparation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of reparation

  • reparations plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is reparation?

Reparation appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Reparation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchréparation (payment to compensate for transgressions)
GermanReparation, Entschädigung, Wiedergutmachung (payment to compensate for transgressions), Reparatur (renewing or restoring)
Portuguesereparação (payment to compensate for transgressions), reparo (renewing or restoring)
Spanishreparación (payment to compensate for transgressions)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does reparation come from?

Borrowed from Latin reparātiō, reparātiōnis.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).