Completeness

How to spell completeness

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce completeness

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does completeness mean?

1. nounThe state of being whole, entire, or lacking nothing.

Completeness in a sentence

• The auditor checked the file for accuracy and completeness.

• She reviewed the report for completeness before sending it to the board.

Where does completeness come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word builds on 'complete', which descends from the Latin completus, the past participle of complere meaning 'to fill up' or 'to finish'. That verb was formed from the intensifying prefix com- and the root plere, meaning 'to fill', the same root that gives us 'plenty', 'replenish' and 'supplement'. English took 'complete' through Old French in the 1300s, where it carried the sense of something fully made up or lacking nothing. The native English suffix -ness, used since Anglo-Saxon times to turn an adjective into the name of its quality, was then attached to form 'completeness', meaning the state of being whole or entire. Because the final 'e' of 'complete' is kept before -ness, the word stacks 'plete' and 'ness' in a way that occasionally trips writers into dropping the 'e' or doubling letters.

How the word is built

• com- (intensive: thoroughly)
• plet (from Latin plere: to fill)
• -ness (state or quality)