"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": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Armenian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mongolian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "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",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Armenian translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Japanese translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Mongolian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
        "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"
}