Library / English Dictionary

COMPLEMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something added to complete or embellish or make perfect

Example:

wild rice was served as an accompaniment to the main dish

Synonyms:

accompaniment; complement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

adjunct (something added to another thing but not an essential part of it)

Derivation:

complement (make complete or perfect; supply what is wanting or form the complement to)

complemental; complementary (acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Either of two parts that mutually complete each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

counterpart; opposite number; vis-a-vis (a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another)

Derivation:

complemental (acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

construction; expression; grammatical construction (a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Number needed to make up a whole force

Example:

a full complement of workers

Synonyms:

complement; full complement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

hands; manpower; men; work force; workforce (the force of workers available)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complement"):

company; ship's company (crew of a ship including the officers; the whole force or personnel of a ship)

Derivation:

complemental (acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole))

Sense 5

Meaning:

A complete number or quantity

Example:

a full complement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

count (the total number counted)

Sense 6

Meaning:

One of a series of enzymes in the blood serum that are part of the immune response

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("complement" is a kind of...):

enzyme (any of several complex proteins that are produced by cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions)

Holonyms ("complement" is a part of...):

immune reaction; immune response; immunologic response (a bodily defense reaction that recognizes an invading substance (an antigen: such as a virus or fungus or bacteria or transplanted organ) and produces antibodies specific against that antigen)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make complete or perfect; supply what is wanting or form the complement to

Example:

I need some pepper to complement the sweet touch in the soup

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "complement" is one way to...):

balance; equilibrate; equilibrise; equilibrize (bring into balance or equilibrium)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

complement (something added to complete or embellish or make perfect)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This process is involved in regulating the extent of action of the complement system.

(Negative Regulation of Complement Activation, NCI Thesaurus)

Complement Stabilization inhibits conjugation, transport, oxidation, or proteolysis of complement system proteins; sequentially interacting serum proteins (some serine proteases), their receptors, and related regulatory proteins.

(Negative Regulation of Degradation of Complement, NCI Thesaurus)

In complement fixation tests, the smallest amount of antigen that will fix one unit of complement.

(Antigen Unit, NCI Thesaurus)

CD35 and CD21 are receptors for complement factors that stimulate the B cell response when complement is activated.

(B Lymphocyte Cell Surface Molecule Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

A series of reactions that result in formation of a pore, composed of complement proteins C5b, C6, C7, C8, and C9, in the membrane of a pathogenic cell.

(Activation of Membrane Attack Complex, NCI Thesaurus)

These findings, along with evidence from other studies, suggested to the researchers that C4 might work with other components of the classical complement cascade to promote synaptic pruning.

(A biological mechanism for schizophrenia, NIH)

This surprising discovery contradicts previous studies of other eye diseases suggesting that the complement system worsens retinal degeneration.

(Immune system can slow degenerative eye disease, National Institutes of Health)

The REACH regulation, the one on food complements...

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Every good cruiser can fill her complement quickly enough.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Transposon activity is a native tool already present within the plant, which can be harnessed to generate new phenotypes or resistances and complement gene targeting efforts.

(Harnessing tomato jumping genes could help speed-breed drought-resistant crops, University of Cambridge)