Complemented

How to spell complemented

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce complemented

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does complemented mean?

1. verbCombined with something else in a way that completed it or made it better as a pair.

Complemented in a sentence

• The navy tie complemented his charcoal suit and finished the outfit neatly.

• A crisp white wine complemented the richness of the buttery sauce.

Where does complemented come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin complementum, meaning 'that which fills up or completes', which was built from the verb complere, 'to fill up' (from com-, an intensifying prefix, and plere, 'to fill'). English took complement on board in the late 1300s, at first meaning the act of completing or the thing that makes something whole. The verb sense, 'to combine with something in a way that improves or completes it', grew naturally out of that idea of filling out a whole. The very same plere root sits inside familiar words like 'complete', 'replete', and 'plenty', which is a useful memory hook: complement is about completing, so it keeps the 'e' of complete. Its troublesome twin 'compliment', meaning praise, arrived later from Italian and Spanish and is unrelated in sense, which is exactly why the two spellings are so easily swapped.

How the word is built

• com- (together, completely)
• ple (fill, from Latin plere)
• -ment (result/means suffix)
• -ed (past tense)