"complementary distribution" meaning in English

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "contrastive distribution"
    },
    {
      "word": "free variation"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complementary distributions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "complementary distribution (plural complementary distributions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Armenian terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Phonetics",
          "orig": "en:Phonetics",
          "parents": [
            "Linguistics",
            "Language",
            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments such that one never appears in the same phonetic context as the other."
      ],
      "id": "en-complementary_distribution-en-noun-VJH58V-~",
      "links": [
        [
          "phonetics",
          "phonetics"
        ],
        [
          "phone",
          "phone"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(phonetics) The distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments such that one never appears in the same phonetic context as the other."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "allophone"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "phonetics",
        "phonology",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "lracʻucʻičʻ bašxum",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "լրացուցիչ բաշխում"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "互補分佈"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "hùbǔ fēnbù",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "互补分布"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "täydennysjakauma"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "distribution complémentaire"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "kiegészítő eloszlás"
        },
        {
          "alt": "そうほぶんぷ",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "sōho bunpu",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "相補分布"
        },
        {
          "code": "mn",
          "lang": "Mongolian",
          "roman": "nöxöx bajr",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic"
          ],
          "word": "нөхөх байр"
        },
        {
          "code": "mn",
          "lang": "Mongolian",
          "roman": "nökökü bayiri",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "tags": [
            "Mongolian"
          ],
          "word": "ᠨᠥᠬᠥᠬᠦ ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠷᠢ"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "dystrybucja komplementarna"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "dopolnítelʹnaja distribúcija",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "дополни́тельная дистрибу́ция"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "dopolnítelʹnoje raspredelénije",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "дополни́тельное распределе́ние"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "komplementarna distribucija"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "distribution of phones",
          "word": "комплементарна дистрибуција"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "complementary distribution"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "complementary distribution"
}

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "contrastive distribution"
    },
    {
      "word": "free variation"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complementary distributions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "complementary distribution (plural complementary distributions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "allophone"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Armenian terms with redundant script codes",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "en:Phonetics"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments such that one never appears in the same phonetic context as the other."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "phonetics",
          "phonetics"
        ],
        [
          "phone",
          "phone"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(phonetics) The distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments such that one never appears in the same phonetic context as the other."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "phonetics",
        "phonology",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "complementary distribution"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "lracʻucʻičʻ bašxum",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "լրացուցիչ բաշխում"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "互補分佈"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "hùbǔ fēnbù",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "互补分布"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "täydennysjakauma"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "distribution complémentaire"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "kiegészítő eloszlás"
    },
    {
      "alt": "そうほぶんぷ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "sōho bunpu",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "相補分布"
    },
    {
      "code": "mn",
      "lang": "Mongolian",
      "roman": "nöxöx bajr",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic"
      ],
      "word": "нөхөх байр"
    },
    {
      "code": "mn",
      "lang": "Mongolian",
      "roman": "nökökü bayiri",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "tags": [
        "Mongolian"
      ],
      "word": "ᠨᠥᠬᠥᠬᠦ ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠷᠢ"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "dystrybucja komplementarna"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "dopolnítelʹnaja distribúcija",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "дополни́тельная дистрибу́ция"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "dopolnítelʹnoje raspredelénije",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "дополни́тельное распределе́ние"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "komplementarna distribucija"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "distribution of phones",
      "word": "комплементарна дистрибуција"
    }
  ],
  "word": "complementary distribution"
}