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Supplement vs Complement - What's the difference?

supplement | complement |

As nouns the difference between supplement and complement

is that supplement is something added, especially to make up for a deficiency while complement is something (or someone) that completes; the consummation.

As verbs the difference between supplement and complement

is that supplement is to provide or make a supplement to something while complement is to complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole.

supplement

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something added, especially to make up for a deficiency.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, author=David S. Senchina, volume=101, issue=2, page=134
    • , magazine= , title= Athletics and Herbal Supplements , passage=Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent.}}
  • An extension to a document or publication that adds information, corrects errors or brings up to date.
  • An additional section of a newspaper devoted to a specific subject.
  • *
  • *:"Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins," remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements , refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: "Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Che fais mourir! "
  • (lb) An angle that, when added to a given angle, makes 180°; a supplementary angle.
  • A vitamin, herbal extract or chemical compound ingested to meet dietary deficiencies or enhance muscular development.

    • Verb

  • To provide or make a supplement to something.

    • Synonyms

    * eke out

    complement

    English

    (wikipedia 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)

    Related terms

    (terms related to "complement") * complementary * complete * compliment * counterpart * diminished radix complement * full complement * logical complement * nines' complement * numeric complement * ones' complement * orthocomplement * orthogonal complement * pseudo-complement * radix complement * relative pseudo-complement * subject complement * ten's complement * two's complement

    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.