complements

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of complement.

   The sommelier suggested two wines as complements to the cheese course.

   In set theory, complements contain every element that lies outside a given set.

   Note

   One spelling gathers several quite different plurals: angles that together make a right angle, words that complete a predicate, small syllable signs attached to a Linear B logogram, and things that pair well. Where the singular names a whole total, such as a vessel's full working force, the plural counts several such totals, one for each ship. A sommelier's complements are pairings, not praise.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of complement.

   The new glass wing complements the original stone building in scale and material.

   Her analytical style complements his intuitive approach on the research team.

   Note

   A spelling with a long history of confusion: complement was once an accepted way of writing compliment, and that use is now obsolete or counted as a misspelling. Complements means completes or rounds out, as when a glass wing complements a stone building. Compliments means praises. A quick test is whether "completes" fits the sentence; if it does, write it with an e. Engineers and programmers also use it for flipping a number, voltage or color to its complement.

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