Converse vs Complementary - What's the difference?
converse | complementary |
(formal) To talk; to engage in conversation.
* Shakespeare
* Dryden
To keep company; to hold intimate intercourse; to commune; followed by with .
* Thomson
* Sir Walter Scott
* Wordsworth
(obsolete) To have knowledge of (a thing), from long intercourse or study.
* John Locke
Familiar discourse; free interchange of thoughts or views; conversation; chat.
* 1728 , (Edward Young), Love of Fame, the Universal Passion , Satire V, On Women, lines 44-46:
* 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Disappearance of Crispina Umerleigh’, The Toys of Peace'', Penguin 2000 (''Complete Short Stories ), p. 405:
Opposite; reversed in order or relation; reciprocal.
The opposite or reverse.
(logic) Of a proposition or theorem of the form: given that "If A is true, then B is true", then "If B is true, then A is true."''
equivalently: ''given that "All Xs are Ys", then "All Ys are Xs" .
Acting as a complement.
*
(genetics) Of the specific pairings of the bases in DNA and RNA.
(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.)
A complementary colour.
(obsolete) One skilled in compliments.
In obsolete terms the difference between converse and complementary
is that converse is to have knowledge of (a thing), from long intercourse or study while complementary is one skilled in compliments.As nouns the difference between converse and complementary
is that converse is (noun_discourse) Familiar discourse; free interchange of thoughts or views; conversation; chat while complementary is a complementary colour.As adjectives the difference between converse and complementary
is that converse is opposite; reversed in order or relation; reciprocal while complementary is acting as a complement.As a verb converse
is to talk; to engage in conversation.converse
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl)Verb
(convers)- Companions / That do converse and waste the time together.
- We had conversed so often on that subject.
- To seek the distant hills, and there converse / With nature.
- Conversing with the world, we use the world's fashions.
- But to converse with heaven — This is not easy.
- according as the objects they converse with afford greater or less variety
Derived terms
* conversationNoun
(en noun)- Twice ere the sun descends, with zeal inspir'd, / From the vain converse of the world retir'd, / She reads the psalms and chapters for the day [...].
- In a first-class carriage of a train speeding Balkanward across the flat, green Hungarian plain, two Britons sat in friendly, fitful converse .
Etymology 2
From (etyl)Adjective
(-)- a converse proposition
Noun
(en noun)equivalently: ''given that "All Xs are Ys", then "All Ys are Xs" .
- All trees are plants, but the converse , that all plants are trees, is not true.
Derived terms
* converselyAnagrams
* * English heteronyms ----complementary
English
(wikipedia complementary)Adjective
(en adjective)- Using the terminology we intro-
duced earlier, we might then say that black and white squares are in comple-
mentary distribution on a chess-board. By this we mean two things: firstly,
black squares and white squares occupy different positions on the board: and
secondly, the black and white squares complement each other in the sense that
the black squares together with the white squares comprise the total set of 64
squares found on the board (i.e. there is no square on the board which is not
either black or white).
Usage notes
* Complementary and complimentary are frequently confused and misused in place of one another.Derived terms
* complementarily * complementarity * complementary angle * complementary colour * complementary distributionNoun
(complementaries)- (Ben Jonson)