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View synonyms for complementary

complementary

[ kom-pluh-men-tuh-ree, -tree ]

adjective

  1. forming a complement; completing.
  2. complementing each other.


noun

, plural com·ple·men·ta·ries.

complementary

/ -trɪ; ˌkɒmplɪˈmɛntərɪ /

adjective

  1. acting as or forming a complement; completing
  2. forming a satisfactory or balanced whole
  3. forming a mathematical complement

    sine and cosine are complementary functions

  4. maths logic (of a pair of sets, etc) mutually exclusive and exhaustive, each being the complement of the other
  5. (of genes) producing an effect in association with other genes
  6. involving or using the treatments and techniques of complementary medicine


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Derived Forms

  • ˌcompleˈmentariness, noun
  • ˌcompleˈmentarily, adverb

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Other Words From

  • comple·menta·ri·ness noun
  • uncom·ple·menta·ry adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of complementary1

First recorded in 1590–1600; complement + -ary

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Example Sentences

To an extent, such ambitions are complementary, yet Liana is not interested in “extreme biography.”

He added that “the method is not a better method, but complementary to other methods.”

If galaxy mapping is like doing a population map, the complementary study is like a demographic survey.

According to Sig Gissler, who administered the awards, the two series of stories “were complementary.”

Between them, the four of them being so complementary, they managed to appeal to almost everyone.

He placed it in prominence, instinctively or designedly, rejecting the merely complementary parts.

This has occurred with regard to agricultural investments, which have awaited a complementary organic legislation.

Every color makes objects near it take on the antagonistic or complementary color.

Each one of a pair enhances the effect of its complementary when the two colors are brought close together.

If colored disks not complementary are mixed by rotation on a motor, they produce an intermediate color.

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complementarity principlecomplementary angle