Search Chambers
Consult Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, The Chambers Thesaurus (1996) or Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1997 edition with amendments). Enter your search and choose your title from the drop-down menu.
complement noun 1 something that completes or perfects; something that provides a needed balance or contrast. 2 (often full complement) the number or quantity required to make something complete, eg the crew of a ship. 3 grammar a word or phrase added to a verb to complete the predicate of a sentence, eg dark in It grew dark. 4 math in set theory: all the members of a universal set that do not belong to a specified set S. 5 geom the amount by which an angle or arc falls short of a right angle or quadrant 4. 6 biol in blood serum: a group of proteins that combine with antibodies and thereby enhance the destruction of foreign particles following an immune response. verb (complemented, complementing) to be a complement to something.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from Latin complementum, from complere to fill up.
complement There is often a spelling confusion between complement and compliment. |
complement noun 1 something that completes or perfects; something that provides a needed balance or contrast. 2 (often full complement) the number or quantity required to make something complete, eg the crew of a ship. 3 grammar a word or phrase added to a verb to complete the predicate of a sentence, eg dark in It grew dark. 4 math in set theory: all the members of a universal set that do not belong to a specified set S. 5 geom the amount by which an angle or arc falls short of a right angle or quadrant 4. 6 biol in blood serum: a group of proteins that combine with antibodies and thereby enhance the destruction of foreign particles following an immune response. verb (complemented, complementing) to be a complement to something.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from Latin complementum, from complere to fill up.
complement There is often a spelling confusion between complement and compliment. |
complement noun 1 something that completes or perfects; something that provides a needed balance or contrast. 2 (often full complement) the number or quantity required to make something complete, eg the crew of a ship. 3 grammar a word or phrase added to a verb to complete the predicate of a sentence, eg dark in It grew dark. 4 math in set theory: all the members of a universal set that do not belong to a specified set S. 5 geom the amount by which an angle or arc falls short of a right angle or quadrant 4. 6 biol in blood serum: a group of proteins that combine with antibodies and thereby enhance the destruction of foreign particles following an immune response. verb (complemented, complementing) to be a complement to something.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from Latin complementum, from complere to fill up.
complement There is often a spelling confusion between complement and compliment. |
-
The Chambers Dictionary (13th edition)
“Chambers is the one I keep at my right hand”- Philip Pullman.
The unrivalled dictionary for word lovers, now in its 13th edition.
-
The Chambers Thesaurus
The Chambers Thesaurus (4th Edition) is a veritable treasure-trove, including the greatest selection of alternative words and phrases available in an A to Z format. -
Chambers Biographical Dictionary
“Simply all you need to know about anyone” – Fay Weldon.
Thoroughly revised and updated for its 9th edition.
Consult Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, The Chambers Thesaurus (1996) or Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1997 edition with amendments). Enter your search and choose your title from the drop-down menu.
Search Tip
A wildcard is a special character you can use to replace one or more characters in a word. There are two types of wildcard. The first is a question mark ?, which matches a single character. The second is an asterisk *, which matches zero or more characters. The two kinds of wildcard can be mixed in a single search.
View More Search Tips