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  1. complementary love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Forming or serving as a complement; completing.
  2. adj. Supplying mutual needs or offsetting mutual lacks.
  3. adj. Genetics Of or relating to a group of genes that act in concert to produce a specific phenotype.
  4. adj. Biochemistry Of or relating to the specific pairing of the purines and pyrimidines between strands of a DNA or an RNA molecule.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Completing; supplying a deficiency; complemental.
  2. In logic and mathematics, together making up a fixed whole: as, complementary angles (that is, angles whose algebraic sum is 90°). See complement of an angle, under complement.
  3. Same as complimentary.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Acting as a complement.
  2. adj. genetics Of the specific pairings of the bases in DNA and RNA.
  3. adj. physics Pertaining to pairs of properties in quantum mechanics that are inversely related to each other, such as speed and position, or energy and time. (See also Heisenberg uncertainty principle.)
  4. n. A complementary colour.
  5. n. obsolete One skilled in compliments.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Serving to fill out or to complete.
  2. n. obsolete One skilled in compliments.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. of words or propositions so related that each is the negation of the other
  2. adj. acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole)
  3. n. either one of two chromatic colors that when mixed together give white (in the case of lights) or grey (in the case of pigments)

Etymologies

  1. From complement +‎ -ary (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “The term complementary implies similarity in the main elements of character with adaptable differences.”

    Practical Suggestions for Mother and Housewife

  • “BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: I think she and Howard Stern are what we call complementary narcissists, meaning that they have the unique individual attributes of narcissists, but that ` s blossomed once they got together, so they feel that they ` re special, unique, above the law.”

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2006

  • “The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a repository of information and research findings on the effectiveness of what are commonly called "complementary" treatments.”

    The Huffington Post: Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D.: When Does Grief Become Mental Illness?

  • “I teach archaeology (another space-time discipline) through screen media in complementary ways.”

    Ballardian » 'Architectures of the Near Future': An Interview with Nic Clear

  • “I think you're right about opera and orchestra reviews (subscription concerts are, after all, still reviewed on deadline), but I think there's a certain complementary liveliness that comes from not having to shoehorn in a thumbs-up/thumbs-down judgement, even one on a more realistic continuum.”

    Absence of Malice

  • “Gentiles nationwide are talking about Jews and Christmas, and not in complementary terms, either.”

    Sound Politics: Oy Vey! That "War On Christmas!"

  • “The reason for the lack of action otherwise: the Complaints Unit say that the impartiality (or not) of the main complementary medicine pages is outside their remit, unless there's a case to be argued for irresponsibility or potential harm.”

    BBC Online and impartiality: update

  • “In North America, holistic health care practices are usually called complementary and alternative medicine, sometimes referred to as CAM.”

    Simon & Schuster: OUR BODIES, OURSELVES

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equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘complementary’

  1. antonymous
  1. additive

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. spectral color
  1. chromatic color
  1. spectral colour
  1. chromatic colour

same context (19)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. analogous
  2. divergent
  3. quantitative
  1. causal
  2. collaborative
  3. diverse
  1. interpersonal
  2. innovative
  3. inverse
  1. relevant
  2. behavioral
  3. organizational
  1. linear
  2. unique
  3. interdependent
  1. proprietary
  2. biological
  3. antagonistic
  1. dominant

rhymes (7)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Cenci
  1. Givenchy
  1. elementary
  1. entry
  1. gentry
  1. sentry
  1. supplementary

reverse dictionary (70)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. magnetic resonance imaging
  2. ion
  3. discalenohedron
  4. schistoscope
  5. plagihedral
  6. prince
  7. sansculottide
  8. antagonistic
  9. coeffect
  10. complementarism
  11. carboxyethyl
  12. antisense
  13. hybridize
  14. complementarity
  1. base pair
  2. renaturation
  3. replicase
  4. cDNA
  5. CMOS
  6. Watson-Crick model
  7. counter-
  8. DNA
  9. intensity
  10. transactional analysis
  11. semiconservative replication
  12. 11,239-foot
  13. base-pairing
  14. aftersensation
  1. palindrome
  2. diglossia
  3. color wheel
  4. tract house
  5. correlative
  6. recognition
  7. system
  8. accidental colors
  9. match
  10. transcription
  11. complement
  12. correlation
  13. correlate
  14. composite
  1. dual
  2. ensemble
  3. primer
  4. female
  5. opposite
  6. reciprocate
  7. reciprocal
  8. polar
  9. cdna
  10. color circle
  11. complementary dna
  12. spectrum
  13. complemental
  14. complementary
  1. correspond
  2. correspondence
  3. fissura
  4. matrix
  5. period
  6. aschistic
  7. color-blindness
  8. compensation
  9. dirhombohedron
  10. race
  11. sphenoid
  12. tautomorphous
  13. trans-
  14. tryptic digestion

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‘complementary’ has been looked up 2270 times, loved by 1 person, added to 13 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 24.