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complementary

UK/ˌkɒmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/US/ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,283 of 15,258mostly written

Complementary means sitting opposite on the colour wheel, so each makes the other stronger. Complementary colours, blue and orange are complementary, a complementary pair.

Put side by side they intensify each other and mixed together they cancel to grey, which is why designers use them for contrast. More generally, complementary things complete each other. Note complimentary with an i, which means free or flattering — the two are confused constantly.

Definitions of complementary

  1. 1adjectivecomplementarySitting opposite on the colour wheel.C1

    “Orange and blue are complementary colours, so they look striking together.”

complementary is a quality of completing.

Where it comes from

Complement plus -ary, from Latin complementum, that which fills up, from complere, to fill. Complete comes from the same filling.

  1. Latin

    complēmentum — that which fills up or completes

  2. Middle English

    complement

  3. English

    complement

  4. English, today

    complementary

Built from

  • compleō · Latin — to fill up; to complete

From complement + ary. complimentary. complement comes from Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“to fill up; to complete”) (English complete). a doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Colours & Patterns

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complementary in the wild

  • The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

    National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

  • When two highly chromatic complementary colors are placed next to each other, they create a strong contrast.

    Complementary colors

  • In economics, a complementary good is a good whose appeal increases with the popularity of another good, which is known as its complement.

    Complementary good

  • A complementary currency is a currency or medium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies.

    Complementary currency

  • Many private currencies are complementary currencies issued by private businesses or organizations.

    Complementary currency

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the compleō family

complycompletioncompliancecomplement

complementary — used about once every 13,270 pages · #12,283 · point at the bar for the others