Meaning of compound in English

compound

noun [ C ]

/ˈkɒm.paʊnd/ us

/ˈkɑːm.paʊnd/

compound noun [C] (COMBINATION)

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chemistry specialized

a chemical that combines two or more elements:

Salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.

Many fertilizers contain nitrogen compounds.

formal

something consisting of two or more different parts:

Then there was his manner, a curious compound of humour and severity.

language specialized

a word that combines two or more different words. Often, the meaning of the compound cannot be discovered by knowing the meaning of the different words that form it. Compounds may be written either as one word or as separate words:

'Bodyguard' and 'floppy disk' are two examples of compounds.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Chemistry: types of chemical

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Complexity

Linguistics: morphology & parts of words

compound noun [C] (AREA)

an area surrounded by fences or walls that contains a group of buildings:

The gates opened and the troops marched into their compound.

The embassy compound has been closed to the public because of a bomb threat.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Gardens & yards

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Grammar

Compounds

A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning: …

Compound words

A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning: …

Compound sentences

A compound sentence has two or more main clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions, such as and, but: …

Nouns: compound nouns

Some nouns consist of more than one word. These are compound nouns. Compound nouns can be formed in different ways. The most common way is to put two nouns together (noun + noun); other common types are adjective + noun and verb + noun. …

Compound verbs

Compound verbs are two words which combine to make one meaning. The first word is usually a noun, an adjective or a preposition, and the second word is a verb. The words are sometimes written as one word and sometimes joined by hyphens. A good learner’s dictionary will tell you how the compound is normally written: …

Word formation

There are four main kinds of word formation: prefixes, suffixes, conversion and compounds. …

Prefixes

We add prefixes before the base or stem of a word. …

Suffixes

We add suffixes after the base or stem of a word. The main purpose of a suffix is to show what class of word it is (e.g. noun or adjective). …

Conversion

Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another. For example, the verbs to email and to microwave are formed from the nouns email and microwave: …

Compounding

When we use compounding, we link together two or more bases to create a new word. Normally, the first item identifies a key feature of the second word. For example, the two bases back and ache can combine to form the compound noun backache, and the two bases post and card combine to form the compound noun postcard. …

Abbreviation

Abbreviation involves shortening a word. We do this in three main ways: clipping, acronyms and blends. …

Back-formation

We form words with back-formation when we remove part of a word, usually something which we think is a suffix (or occasionally a prefix). We do this commonly when we form verbs from nouns. …

compound

verb

/kəmˈpaʊnd/ us

/kəmˈpaʊnd/

compound verb (WORSEN)

[ T often passive ]

to make a problem or difficult situation worse:

Her terror was compounded by the feeling that she was being watched.

His financial problems were compounded when he unexpectedly lost his job.

Severe drought has compounded food shortages in the region.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Deteriorating and making worse

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compound verb (COMBINE)

[ T ]

to mix two things together:

Most tyres are made of rubber compounded with other chemicals and materials.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Connecting and combining

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compound

adjective

/ˈkɒm.paʊnd/ us

/ˈkɑːm.paʊnd/

consisting of two or more parts

finance & economics specialized

used to refer to a system of paying interest in which interest is paid both on the original amount of money invested (= given to companies hoping to get more back) or borrowed and on the interest that has collected over a period of time:

compound interest

The investment fund has achieved annual compound returns of 18.2 percent.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Complexity

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Interest & capital

Grammar

Compounds

A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning: …

Compound words

A compound word is two or more words linked together to produce a word with a new meaning: …

Compound sentences

A compound sentence has two or more main clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions, such as and, but: …

Compound verbs

Word formation

There are four main kinds of word formation: prefixes, suffixes, conversion and compounds. …

Prefixes

We add prefixes before the base or stem of a word. …

Suffixes

We add suffixes after the base or stem of a word. The main purpose of a suffix is to show what class of word it is (e.g. noun or adjective). …

Conversion

Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another. For example, the verbs to email and to microwave are formed from the nouns email and microwave: …

Compounding

Abbreviation

Abbreviation involves shortening a word. We do this in three main ways: clipping, acronyms and blends. …

Back-formation

We form words with back-formation when we remove part of a word, usually something which we think is a suffix (or occasionally a prefix). We do this commonly when we form verbs from nouns. …

(Definition of compound from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

compound | American Dictionary

compound

noun [ C ]

/ˈkɑm·pɑʊnd/

compound noun [C] (COMBINATION)

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a mixture of two or more different parts or elements:

His jokes have been described as a compound of fears, anxieties, and insecurities.

chemistry

A compound is a chemical substance that combines two or more elements.

grammar

A compound is a word consisting of two or more words:

"Black eye" and "teaspoon" are compounds.

compound noun [C] (AREA)

a fenced or enclosed area that contains buildings:

We left the compound early to find and photograph wild animals.

compound

verb [ T ]

/kɑmˈpɑʊnd, ˈkɑm·pɑʊnd/

to make something worse by increasing or adding to it:

Lack of rain compounded the problems farmers are having.

(Definition of compound from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

compound | Business English

compound

adjective

FINANCE

/ˈkɒmpaʊnd/ us

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used to describe a system of calculating interest in which it is paid on both the amount of money invested or borrowed and on the interest that has been added to it:

The investment has grown $1,000 into $3,552 over five years, a compound annual return of 28.6%.

compound

verb [ T ]

FINANCE

/kəmˈpaʊnd/ us

to calculate interest on both the amount of money invested or borrowed and on the interest that has been added to it:

Interest will be compounded every six months.

Compare

simple interest

(Definition of compound from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of compound

compound

If a rule with such a "compound" body is not redundant it might be so in part.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

While phrases tend to be stressed phrase-finally, compounds tend to be stressed on the first element.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The effects of seasonal drought on background canopy-gap disturbance in the tropics are expected to be substantially compounded by the effects of major disturbances.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Some of these compounds have been detrimental to the environment, and all too often the disease organisms being targeted have developed resistance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This problem was compounded as the image provided by the camera was visible locally but in an undegraded form.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We also represent the syntactic relations in the result of nominal compound parsing, which will be useful for nominal interpretation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We should discuss the possible interpretation and the equipment that could test biogenicity of such sulphur compounds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For each subject, a total of 16 compounds was possible.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A reasonable therapeutic strategy may be to suppress the aggregation of these proteins using compounds that inhibit their corresponding proteases.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This role is compounded by two key difficulties of modern day modelling.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The clinicians' difficulties are further compounded by the older adult often having internalised the media version, so pushing down and distorting their own experiences.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Since this was a kind of truck, it was counted as a left-headed compound.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

How does one proceed from impartiality, possibly compounded with sympathy, to the utilitarian mean rule?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This problem is compounded by the presence, within the ranch, of patches of thicket harbouring untreated populations of tsetse.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, it has to be realized that synthetic compounds as such date back to the earliest recorded stages of the language.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of compound

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