complement
The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
Noun
- The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
- Queequeg sought a passage to Christian lands. But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, spurned his suit; and not all the King his father's influence could prevail. - 1851 November 14, Herman Melville,...
- Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday. - 2009 October 30, The Guardian:
- The whole working force of a vessel.
- An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
- 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.
- History is the complement of poetry. - 1854, James Stephen, On Desultory and Systematic Reading:
- It would be too much to imagine that improving stations will alone create a much needed new image in the public eye; a smartly turned out station staff is a very necessary complement to a smart station. - 1962 October,...
- London's Kings Place, now one year old, established itself as a venue for imaginative programming, a complement to the evergreen Wigmore Hall. - 2009 December 13, The Guardian:
- 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.
- Why has our grammar broken down at this point? It is not difficult to see why. For, we have failed to make any provision for the fact that only some Verbs in English (i.e. Verbs like those italicized in (5) (a),...
- 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).
- An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
- The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
- The complement of blue is orange.
- 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).
- The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.
- One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
- An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
- A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
Origin
From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“to fill up; to complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.
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Derived
anticomplement clausal complement complemental complementarian complementisation complementization complementize complement membrane attack complex complementoid complementologist complementology complementopathy complementophile complement protein complement system diminished radix complement full complement hypercomplementemia in complement logical complement nines' complement numeric complement object complement ones' complement
Noun Entry 2
- Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.
- A man of complements - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Origin
See compliment.
Forms
Verb Entry 3
- To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.
- We believe your addition will complement the team.
- To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides, thus forming part of a whole.
- The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination.
- I believe our talents really complement each other.
- To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.
Forms
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Verb Entry 4
- Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.