Word Direct Answers

complement

complement is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 9 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole. History is the complement of poetry. Sir J. Stephen.
  2. 2.Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness. To exceed his complement and number appointed him which was one hundred and twenty persons. Hakluyt.
  3. 3.(Math.) A second quantity added to a given quantity to make equal to a third given quantity.
  4. 4.Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. [Obs.] Without vain art or curious complements. Spenser.
  5. 5.(Naut.) The whole working force of a vessel.
  6. 6.(Mus.) The interval wanting to complete the octave; -- the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.
  7. 7.A compliment. [Obs.] Shak. Arithmetical compliment of a logarithm. See under Logarithm. -- Arithmetical complement of a number (Math.), the difference between that number and the next higher power of 10; as, 4 is the complement of 6, and 16 of 84. -- Complement of an arc or angle (Geom.), the difference between that arc or angle and 90º. -- Complement of a parallelogram. (Math.) See Gnomon. -- In her complement (Her.), said of the moon when represented as full.
  8. 8.To supply a lack; to supplement. [R.]
  9. 9.To compliment. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is complement.

Sources