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complementary

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

Origin

adjective

forming a complement; completing.

complementing each other.

noun

complementary color (def. 1).

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Complementary has a plethora of syllables.

So is sesquipedalianism. Does it mean:

given to using long words.

opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

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Origin:
1590–1600; complement + -ary

Related forms

com·ple·men·ta·ri·ness, noun

un·com·ple·men·ta·ry, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To complementary

Collins

World English Dictionary

complementary or complemental (ˌkɒmplɪˈmɛntərɪ, -trɪ)

—*adj*
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

complemental or complemental

—*adj*

comple'mentarily or complemental

—*adv*

comple'mentally or complemental

—*adv*

comple'mentariness or complemental

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

complementary

1829, from complement. Earliest attested use is in complementary colors.

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Matching Quote

"Marriage and deathless friendship, both should be inviolable and sacred: two great creative passions, separate, apart, but complementary: the one pivotal, the other adventurous: the one, marriage, the centre of human life; and the other, the leap ahead."

-D.H. Lawrence

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