Definition of "complement"

complement

/ˈkɒmpləmənt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural complements
1. The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
  Quotations
  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.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
  Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.
  2009 October 30, The Guardian
2. (nautical) The whole working force of a vessel.
3. (heraldry) Fullness (of the moon).
  Quotations
  The sixth Bishop of Ely had very curious arms, for he bore both sun and moon on his shield, the sun "in his splendour" and the moon "in her complement".
  1912, Allen Phoebe, Peeps at Heraldry, page 33
4. (astronomy, geometry) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
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.
  Quotations
  History is the complement of poetry.
  1854, James Stephen, On Desultory and Systematic Reading
  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.
  1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 255
  London's Kings Place, now one year old, established itself as a venue for imaginative programming, a complement to the evergreen Wigmore Hall.
  2009 December 13, The Guardian
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 340
7. (music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
8. (optics) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
9. (set theory) 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).
10. (immunology) One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
11. (logic) An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
12. (electronics) A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
13. (computing) A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
14. (computing, mathematics) The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.
15. (computing, mathematics) The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.
16. (computing, mathematics) The numeric complement of a number.
17. (genetics) 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.
18. (biochemistry) Synonym of alexin
19. (economics) Abbreviation of complementary good.
20. (now rare) Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation.
  Quotations
  perform all those works of mercy, which Clemens Alexandrinus calls amoris et amicitiæ impletionem et extentionem, the extent and complement of love […].
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps
21. (obsolete) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment.
  Quotations
  And both encreast the prayse of woman kynde, / And both encreast her beautie excellent: / So all did make in her a perfect complement.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
22. (obsolete) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory.
  Quotations
  A doleful case desires a doleful song,Without vain art or curious complements.
  1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses [The Tears of the Muses]: Polyhymnia
  Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
  1599, 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, [Act II, scene ii]
  A man should be judged by himselfe, and not by his complements.
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
23. Obsolete spelling or misspelling of compliment.
  Quotations
  A man of complements
  c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
verb
third-person singular simple present complements, present participle complementing, simple past and past participle complemented
1. To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.
2. To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides, thus forming part of a whole.
3. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.
4. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of compliment

Definition of "complement"

complement

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