What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Compensation vs Complement - What's the difference?

compensation | complement |

As nouns the difference between compensation and complement

is that compensation is the act or principle of compensating while complement is complement, thing added that makes a whole.

compensation

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act or principle of compensating.
  • (Emerson)
  • That which constitutes, or is regarded as, an equivalent; that which makes good the lack or variation of something else; that which compensates for loss or privation; amends; remuneration; recompense.
  • * Hallam
  • The parliament which dissolved the monastic foundations vouchsafed not a word toward securing the slightest compensation to the dispossessed owners.
  • * Burke
  • No pecuniary compensation can possibly reward them.
  • The extinction of debts of which two persons are reciprocally debtors by the credits of which they are reciprocally creditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount; a set-off.
  • A recompense or reward for some loss or service.
  • An equivalent stipulated for in contracts for the sale of real estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall not avoid, but shall be the subject of compensation.
  • The relationship between air temperature outside a building and a calculated target temperature for provision of air or water to contained rooms or spaces for the purpose of efficient heating. In building control systems the compensation curve is defined to a compensator for this purpose.
  • Synonyms

    * (act of compensating) restitution * (recompense or reward) restitution

    Derived terms

    * overcompensation

    complement

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • *:
  • perform all those works of mercy, which Clemens Alexandrinus calls amoris et amicitiæ impletionem et extentionem , the extent and complement of love.
  • (obsolete) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.5:
  • And both encreast the prayse of woman kynde, / And both encreast her beautie excellent: / So all did make in her a perfect complement .
  • The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), Moby-Dick :
  • Queequeg sought a passage to Christian lands. But the ship, having her full complement of seamen, spurned his suit; and not all the King his father's influence could prevail.
  • * 2009 , The Guardian , 30 October:
  • Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.
  • (obsolete) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory.
  • * 1591 , (Edmund Spenser), “The Teares of the Muses [The Tears of the Muses]: Polyhymnia”:
  • *:A doleful case desires a doleful song,
  • *:Without vain art or curious complements.
  • *c. 1599 , (William Shakespeare), , Act 2, Scene 2:
  • *:Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
  • *, I.42:
  • *:A man should be judged by himselfe, and not by his complements .
  • (nautical) The whole working force of a vessel.
  • (heraldry) Fullness (of the moon).
  • * 1912 , Allen Phoebe, Peeps at Heraldry , p.33:
  • The sixth Bishop of Ely had very curious arms, for he bore both sun and moon on his shield, the sun "in his splendour" and the moon "in her complement ".
  • (astronomy, geometry) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.
  • Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole; loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition.
  • * Sir J. Stephen
  • History is the complement of poetry.
  • * 2009 , The Guardian , 13 December:
  • London's Kings Place, now one year old, established itself as a venue for imaginative programming, a complement to the evergreen Wigmore Hall.
  • (grammar) A word or group of words that completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object.
  • *
  • Why has our grammar broken down at this point? It is not difficult to see why. For, we have failed to make any provision for the fact that only some'' Verbs in English (i.e. Verbs like those italicized in (5) (a), traditionally called ''Transitive Verbs'') subcategorize ( = ‘take?) an immediately following NP Complement , whereas others (such as those italicised in (5) (b), traditionally referred to as ''Intransitive Verbs ) do not.
  • (music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.
  • (optics) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).
  • The complement of blue is orange.
  • (set theory) Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement).
  • The complement of the odd numbers is the even numbers, relative to the natural numbers.
  • (immunology) One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.
  • (logic) An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.
  • (electronics) A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.
  • (computing) A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.
  • (computing, mathematics) The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number.
  • The complement of 01100101_2 is 10011010_2.
  • (computing, mathematics) The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number.
  • The complement of 01100101_2 is 10011011_2.
  • (computing, mathematics) The numeric complement of a number.
  • The complement of -123 is 123.
  • (genetics) A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa.
  • A DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.
  • We believe your addition will complement the team.
  • To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides.
  • The flavors of the pepper and garlic complement each other, giving a very rich taste in combination.
    I believe our talents really complement each other.
  • To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement.
  • See also

    * compliment * invert * inversion * negate * negation * supplement

    References

    * DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music . Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0130493465.