adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A complementary colour.
2. 2
   either one of two chromatic colors that when mixed together give white (in the case of lights) or grey (in the case of pigments) wordnet
3. 3
   One skilled in compliments. obsolete

   "the hands of the most skilful and cunning complementaries alive"

4. 4
   An angle which adds with another to equal 90 degrees.

Adjective

1. 1
   Acting as a complement; making up a whole with something else.

   "I'll provide you with some complementary notes to help you study."

2. 2
   Of the specific pairings of the bases in DNA and RNA.
3. 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.)

Adjective

1. 1
   acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole) wordnet
2. 2
   of words or propositions so related that each is the negation of the other wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

additiveadjuvantalternateanalogousansweringantonymous

Example

More examples

"It is likely that these two consonants are in complementary distribution."

Etymology

From complement + -ary. Piecewise doublet of complimentary.

Related phrases

complementary DNAcomplementary allophonecomplementary anglecomplementary anglescomplementary antonymcomplementary colourcomplementary distributioncomplementary functioncomplementary goodcomplementary medicinecomplementary nondeterministic polynomialcomplementary region

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.