AMENDS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does amends mean? 

• AMENDS (noun)
  The noun AMENDS has 2 senses:

1. a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury

2. something done or paid in expiation of a wrong

  Familiarity information: AMENDS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AMENDS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

amends; damages; indemnification; indemnity; redress; restitution

Hypernyms ("amends" is a kind of...):

compensation (something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "amends"):

relief ((law) redress awarded by a court)

actual damages; compensatory damages; general damages ((law) compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensated)

nominal damages ((law) a trivial sum (usually $1.00) awarded as recognition that a legal injury was sustained (as for technical violations of a contract))

exemplary damages; punitive damages; smart money ((law) compensation in excess of actual damages (a form of punishment awarded in cases of malicious or willful misconduct))

atonement; expiation; satisfaction (compensation for a wrong)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something done or paid in expiation of a wrong

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

amends; reparation

Context example:

how can I make amends

Hypernyms ("amends" is a kind of...):

atonement; expiation; propitiation (the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity))

 Context examples 

The compliment of John Thorpe's affection did not make amends for this thoughtlessness in his sister.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

There was a rich amends, however, preparing for her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If he were deficient there, nothing should make amends for it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And we will make the dear little love some amends for her disappointment to-morrow, and then I hope she will not much mind it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

This was his plan of amends—of atonement—for inheriting their father's estate; and he thought it an excellent one, full of eligibility and suitableness, and excessively generous and disinterested on his own part.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He hoped she might make some amends for the many very plain faces he was continually passing in the streets.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Her idea was my refuge in disappointment and distress, and made some amends to me, even for the loss of my friend.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to make amends for your share in an evil plot.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If the audience had done less than justice, surely it made ample amends.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

HIPAA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to provide improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage, extending earlier provisions under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).

(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, NCI Thesaurus)