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complementary

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Making up a whole with something else.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kahmpluhmehntree

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kɑmpləˈmɛntɹi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

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

noun

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

  2. A complementary colour.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Acting as a complement; making up a whole with something else.

Used this way, complementary is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • complemental , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Complementary

complementary colours

Either

complementary color

Other combinations

complementary medicinecomplementary dnacomplementary distributioncomplementary relationshipcomplementary naturecomplementary role

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • complementary anglesnounCompound term

    Two angles whose sum is a right angle.

  • complementary colornounCompound term

    Either one of two chromatic colors that when mixed together give white (in the case of lights) or grey (in the case of pigments).

  • complementary distributionnounCompound term

    A distribution of related speech sounds or forms in such a way that they only appear in different contexts.

  • complementary dnanounCompound term

    Single-stranded DNA that is complementary to messenger RNA or DNA that has been synthesized from messenger RNA by reverse transcriptase.

  • complementary medicinenounCompound term

    The practice of medicine that combines traditional medicine with alternative medicine.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: acting as a complement

completingcomplementalRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.