"complement" meaning in English

See complement in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈkɒmpləmənt/ [UK], /ˈkɑːmpləmənt/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav [UK] Forms: complement [singular], complements [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. Something which complements.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-noun-Ah~SF~BS
  2. A complement is a word or phrase that is needed to make another word grammatical.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-noun-OMGQGCDZ Categories (other): Grammar
  3. an angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-noun-gm6lVtgI Categories (other): Geometry
  4. The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-noun-BvAHJ2Kq
  5. In boating: The full number of people needed to man a ship (esp. a ship of war)
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-noun-X8k5qO-f

Verb

IPA: /ˈkɒmpləmənt/ [UK], /ˈkɑːmpləmənt/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav [UK] Forms: complement [canonical], complements [third-person, singular], complemented [past], complemented [past, participle], complementing [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If x complements y, x makes y complete or whole.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-verb-iV3YHbTj
  2. If two people or things complement each other, each has what the other is missing or needs.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-verb-krHne9EE
  3. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.
    Sense id: simple-complement-en-verb-gi9i2t59
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complement",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complements",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complemented",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complemented",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complementing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "com‧ple‧ment",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We believe your addition will complement the team."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x complements y, x makes y complete or whole."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-verb-iV3YHbTj",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination."
        },
        {
          "text": "I believe our talents really complement each other."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If two people or things complement each other, each has what the other is missing or needs."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-verb-krHne9EE",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-verb-gi9i2t59",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kQmpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kA:mpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "compliment"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "complement"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complement",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complements",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "com‧ple‧ment",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We believe you will make a good complement to our team."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something which complements."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-noun-Ah~SF~BS"
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Grammar",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In he seems nice, nice is the complement of seem."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A complement is a word or phrase that is needed to make another word grammatical."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-noun-OMGQGCDZ",
      "raw_tags": [
        "grammar"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Geometry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "an angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-noun-gm6lVtgI",
      "raw_tags": [
        "geometry"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The complement of blue is orange."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light)."
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-noun-BvAHJ2Kq"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The ship's complement is 35 people. 35 people are needed to sail the ship"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In boating: The full number of people needed to man a ship (esp. a ship of war)"
      ],
      "id": "simple-complement-en-noun-X8k5qO-f"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kQmpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kA:mpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "compliment"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "complement"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complement",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complements",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complemented",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complemented",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complementing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "com‧ple‧ment",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We believe your addition will complement the team."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x complements y, x makes y complete or whole."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination."
        },
        {
          "text": "I believe our talents really complement each other."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If two people or things complement each other, each has what the other is missing or needs."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kQmpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kA:mpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "compliment"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "complement"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "complement",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "complements",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "com‧ple‧ment",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We believe you will make a good complement to our team."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something which complements."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Grammar"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In he seems nice, nice is the complement of seem."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A complement is a word or phrase that is needed to make another word grammatical."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "grammar"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Geometry"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "an angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "geometry"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The complement of blue is orange."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light)."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The ship's complement is 35 people. 35 people are needed to sail the ship"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In boating: The full number of people needed to man a ship (esp. a ship of war)"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɒmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kQmpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːmpləmənt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/\"kA:mpl@m@nt/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-complement.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "compliment"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "complement"
}

Download raw JSONL data for complement meaning in English (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2024-12-20 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.