English

Etymology

Verb

1. To complete.

   We believe your addition will complement the team.

2. To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides.

   The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination.

   I believe our talents really complement each other.

3. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.

Noun

1. Something which complements.

   We believe you will make a good complement to our team.

2. An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
3. Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set; the relative complement.
4. The set containing exactly those elements of the universal set not in the given set; the absolute complement.

   The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.

5. An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
6. A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
7. 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.
8. Any word or group of words used to complete a grammatical construction, typically in the predicate, including adverbials, infinitives, and sometimes objects.
9. A complement clause.
10. A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
11. The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.

    The complement of $01100101\_2$ is $10011010\_2$.

12. The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.

    The complement of $01100101\_2$ is $10011011\_2$.

13. The numeric complement of a number.

    The complement of -123 is 123.

14. An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
15. The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).

    The complement of blue is orange.

16. 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.

    A DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other.

17. One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
18. The full number of personnel required to man a ship (esp. a ship of war).

Related terms

• complementary
• counterpart
• full complement
• logical complement
• numeric complement
• radix complement

• diminished radix complement
• ones' complement
• nines' complement
• ten's complement
• two's complement
• subject complement

See also

• compliment
• invert
• inversion
• negate
• negation
• supplement