Other forms: compromised, compromising, compromises
To compromise is to end an argument with each side giving something up. Neither of you gets the holiday you wanted, so you settle on a week at the coast and both stop sulking.
It is a noun too, and the noun is everywhere in politics and work: reach a compromise, a compromise candidate, a messy compromise nobody loves. You compromise WITH a person and ON a detail. Then there is a second, much darker sense that catches learners out — to compromise something is to damage or weaken it. A leak compromised the investigation, a compromised immune system, your password has been compromised. You can compromise yourself as well, meaning you put your good name at risk. Same spelling, and only the sentence around it tells you which one is meant.
1verbcompromiseTo settle a disagreement by each side giving up part of what it wanted.
“They compromised: he chose the flat, she chose the furniture.”
2nounagreementAn agreement reached by each side giving something up, or the act of reaching one.
“The new timetable is a compromise between the drivers and the schools.”
3verbweakenTo weaken, damage or expose something to danger.
“One careless email compromised the whole account.”
4verbreputationTo act in a way that damages your own reputation or principles.
“She refused to compromise her independence for the sake of the contract.”
compromise is an agreement.
Compromise came through Middle French compromis from Latin compromissum, which first meant a mutual promise to accept an arbiter's decision — from compromittere, built from com-, "together", and promittere, "to promise". The heart of the word is a promise made together, before either side knows how the ruling will go.
Proto-Indo-European
*mey- (change)
Latin
compromissum — a compromise, originally a mutual promise to refer to arbitration
Middle French
compromis
English, today
compromise
Built from
From Middle French compromis, from Medieval Latin -, Latin compromissum (“a compromise, originally a mutual promise to refer to arbitration”), prop. neuter of Latin compromissus, past participle of compromittere (“to make a mutual promise to abide by the decision of an arbiter”), from com- (“together”) + promittere (“to promise”); see promise.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA