complement
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒmpləmənt/
ipa: /ˈkɑmpləmənt/
homophone: compliment (in some dialects)
Forms: form: complements
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
text: Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.
ref: 2009 October 30, The Guardian:
glosses: The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The whole working force of a vessel.
topics: astronomy
geometry
mathematics
natural-sciences
sciences
glosses: An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
examples: text: History is the complement of poetry.
ref: 1854, James Stephen, On Desultory and Systematic Reading:
text: 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.
ref: 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 255:
text: London's Kings Place, now one year old, established itself as a venue for imaginative programming, a complement to the evergreen Wigmore Hall.
ref: 2009 December 13, The Guardian:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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), traditionally called Transitive Verbs) subcategorize ( = ‘takeʼ) an immediately following NP Complement, whereas others (such as those italicised in (5) (b), traditionally referred to as Intransitive Verbs) do not.
ref: 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 340:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: 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.
topics: biology
epigraphy
geography
history
human-sciences
linguistics
literature
media
natural-sciences
palaeography
paleogeography
paleography
paleontology
phonetics
phonology
publishing
sciences
glosses: 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).
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
examples: text: The complement of blue is orange.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
optics
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
examples: text: The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.
topics: mathematics
sciences
set-theory
glosses: 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).
topics: immunology
medicine
sciences
glosses: One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
examples: text: The complement of 01100101#95;2 is 10011010#95;2.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.
examples: text: The complement of 01100101#95;2 is 10011011#95;2.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.
examples: text: The complement of −123 is 123.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: The numeric complement of a number.
examples: text: A DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other.
topics: biology
genetics
medicine
natural-sciences
sciences
glosses: 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.
topics: biochemistry
biology
chemistry
microbiology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Synonym of alexin.
synonyms: word: alexin
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Abbreviation of complementary good.
examples: text: perform all those works of mercy, which Clemens Alexandrinus calls amoris et amicitiæ impletionem et extentionem, the extent and complement of love[…].
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
glosses: Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation.
examples: text: And both encreast the prayse of woman kynde, / And both encreast her beautie excellent: / So all did make in her a perfect complement.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment.
examples: text: A doleful case desires a doleful song,
Without vain art or curious complements.
ref: 1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses [The Tears of the Muses]: Polyhymnia:
text: Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
text: A man should be judged by himselfe, and not by his complements.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
glosses: Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory.
Derived terms: 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
orthocomplement
orthogonal complement
pseudo-complement
radix complement
relative pseudo-complement
subject complement
ten's complement
transcomplement
two's complement
Related terms: complementary
complete
compliment
counterpart