Complement

Quick meaning: Complement is a noun meaning The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.

Meaning

The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.

More Meanings

1. (nautical) The whole working force of a vessel.
2. (astronomy, geometry) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
3. (music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
4. (optics) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
5. 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.
6. (grammar, linguistics) 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.
7. (palaeography, phonetics) 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).

Example Sentences

The complement of blue is orange.

History is the complement of poetry.

Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.

The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.

Word Forms

• complements
• complementing
• complemented

Synonyms for complement

Depending on context, synonyms include alexin.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include complementary, supplemental, supplementation, supplementarity, supplementary, supplement.

Commonly Confused & Compared Words

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