complement

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
2. (countable, uncountable) The whole working force of a vessel.
3. (countable, uncountable) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
4. (countable, uncountable) Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole; loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition.
5. (countable, uncountable) A word or group of words that completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object.
6. (countable, uncountable) A phonetic complement is a graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of its reading (as opposed to an adjunct that abbreviates an adjective that modifies that logogram).
7. (countable, uncountable) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
8. (countable, uncountable) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
9. (countable, uncountable) Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement).
10. (countable, uncountable) One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
11. (countable, uncountable) An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
12. (countable, uncountable) A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
13. (countable, uncountable) A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
14. (countable, uncountable) The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.
15. (countable, uncountable) The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.
16. (countable, uncountable) The numeric complement of a number.
17. (countable, uncountable) A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa.
18. (countable, uncountable) Synonym of alexin.
19. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable) Abbreviation of complementary good.
20. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation.
21. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment.
22. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory.

Verb

1. To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.
2. To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides, thus forming part of a whole.
3. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.

Verb

Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.

Synonyms

supplement

complete

counterpart

addition

replenishment

finish

object

modifier

fill in

accessory

full complement

completion

completeness

consummate

analogue

replenish

fill up

complementary set

fill

true complement

fill out

adjunct

refill

permeate

predicative

accompaniment

addendum

fulfil

eke out

imbue

consummation

appendage

compliment

antithesis

achieve

foil

fit

complementary

agent

accomplish

circumspect

finalise

carefulness

balance

finality

finalize

exercise

augment

add to

accompany

Translations

complemento

complément

complemento

Komplement

συμπλήρωμα

Ergänzung

aanvullen

ergänzen

compléter

complemento

συμπληρώνω

completare

completar

complement

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɒmpləmənt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: complement

In summary

From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.