Counterpart vs Complementary - What's the difference?
counterpart | complementary |
Either of two parts that fit together, or complement one another.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times
, passage=Mr. Obama never found a generational counterpart among conservatives in Congress like Paul D. Ryan or Eric Cantor; instead, there was a mutual animosity.}}
(legal) A duplicate of a legal document.
One which resembles another
One which has corresponding functions or characteristics.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=November 12
, author=
, title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain
, work=BBC Sport
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.
As nouns the difference between counterpart and complementary
is that counterpart is either of two parts that fit together, or complement one another while complementary is a complementary colour.As an adjective complementary is
acting as a complement.counterpart
English
Noun
(en noun)- ''Those brass knobs and their hollow counterparts interlock perfectly
citation
citation, page= , passage=England's attacking impetus was limited to one shot from Lampard that was comfortably collected by keeper Iker Casillas, but for all Spain's domination of the ball his England counterpart Joe Hart was unemployed.}}
Synonyms
* equivalent * opposite number * pendantcomplementary
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)