complementary - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: complementary

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

com·ple·men·ta·ry

Audio Help [kom-pluh-men-tuh-ree, -tree] Pronunciation Key adjective, noun, plural -ries.

–adjective

1.	forming a complement; completing.

2.	complementing each other.

–noun

3.	complementary color (def. 1).

[Origin: 1590–1600; complement + -ary

]

—Related forms

com·ple·men·ta·ri·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
complementary

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

com·ple·men·ta·ry Audio Help (kŏm'plə-měn'tə-rē, -trē) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Forming or serving as a complement; completing.
Supplying mutual needs or offsetting mutual lacks.
Genetics Of or relating to a group of genes that act in concert to produce a specific phenotype.
Biochemistry Of or relating to the specific pairing of the purines and pyrimidines between strands of a DNA or an RNA molecule.

com'ple·men'ta·ri·ly (-tə-rə-lē, -trə-lē, -měn-târ'ə-lē) adv., com'ple·men'ta·ri·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

complementary
adjective
1.	of words or propositions so related that each is the negation of the other; "'male' and 'female' are complementary terms"
2.	acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole) [syn: complemental]
noun
1.	either one of two chromatic colors that when mixed together give white (in the case of lights) or grey (in the case of pigments); "yellow and blue are complementaries" [syn: complementary color]