English Explanatory Dictionary

complementary

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Acting as a complement; making up a whole with something else.
  2. Of the specific pairings of the bases in DNA and RNA.
  3. Pertaining to pairs of properties in quantum mechanics that are inversely related to each other, such as speed and position, or energy and time. (See also Heisenberg uncertainty principle.)
noun
  1. A complementary colour.
  2. One skilled in compliments.
  3. An angle which adds with another to equal 90 degrees.

Pronunciation

/ˌkɒmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complementary.wav kŏm'plĭ-mĕnʹtə-rē -trē /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/

Word forms

complementary more complementary most complementary complementaries

Etymology

From complement + -ary. Piecewise doublet of complimentary.

Related words

complemental

Derived words

complementariness complementary allophone complementary angle complementary angles complementary antonym complementary colour color complementary distribution complementary DNA complementary function complementary good complementary medicine complementary nondeterministic polynomial complementary region complementary studies intercomplementary anticomplementary complementarily complementarity enantiocomplementary noncomplementary
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