Making something worse or more severe by adding to it; increasing the complexity or intensity of a problem. Can also mean combining elements to create something more complex.
From Latin 'componere' meaning 'to put together,' from 'com' (together) and 'ponere' (to place). The sense of 'making worse' developed from the idea of adding problems on top of existing ones.
Compounding problems are like interest on debt—they don't just add to the original issue, they multiply it! What starts as a small problem can snowball into something much bigger through compounding effects.
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