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a good way to differentiate clipping from limiting from compression is by
considering the attack and decay times relative to the features of the waveform

clipping is instantaneous gain changes
as soon as the waveform exceeds a threshold, the gain reduces
as soon as the waveform is below threshold, the gain increases
the attack and decay time are ZERO
back to back diodes do this
you can various ratios.. ie hard or soft clipping

limiting is a slower process
there is a finite attack and decay time that is longer than the time of a waveform cycle but is still very fast compared to the envelope usuall 1 to a few msec
again you can have various ratios


compression is even slower attack and decay time whose duration is
large compared to individual waveform cycles and can be several sylabbles or several seconds even

AGC is even slower typically operates over many seconds

those are the definitions I use, anyway...
Mark