complementarity

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/ˌkɒmpləmɛnˈtæɹɪti//ˌkɒmpləmɛnˈtɛəɹɪti/

noun

The state or characteristic of being complementary.

Less commonScrabble 26

Meanings

nouncomplementarity (countable and uncountable, plural complementarities)

plural complementarities

  1. countableuncountableThe state or characteristic of being complementary.

    "Synergy is one of the most overused words in the English language, but there is a tremendous complementarity to these organizations."

    1987 April 2, Kenneth N. Gilpin, “2 Forecasting Firms to Merge”, in New York Times, retrieved 01 Apr 2014
  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA semantic relationship between two words wherein negative use of one entails the affirmative of the other with no gradability; the relation of binary antonyms.
    1 more example

    For complementarity, there are entailments both from affirmative sentences to the corresponding negative sentences (which is what ordinary antonymy allows) and from negative sentences to the corresponding affirmative sentences. [...] That light is on entails That light is not off. That light is not on entails That light is off.

    2005, Andrew John Merrison, Aileen Bloomer, Patrick Griffiths, Christopher J. Hall, Introducing Language in Use, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 112
  3. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe idea that physical phenomena may have (mutually contradictory) properties that cannot be observed simultaneously (e.g. wave-particle duality).

Origin

Translations

Catalan complementarietat
  • complementarietatstate of being complementary
Dutch complementariteit
  • complementariteitstate of being complementary
Finnish täydentävyys, komplementaarisuus
  • täydentävyysstate of being complementary
  • komplementaarisuusstate of being complementary
French complémentarité
  • complémentaritéstate of being complementary
Italian complementarità
  • complementaritàstate of being complementary
Polish komplementarność
  • komplementarnośćstate of being complementary
Portuguese complementaridade
  • complementaridadestate of being complementary
Romanian complementaritate
  • complementaritatestate of being complementary
Russian взаимозаменя́емость
  • взаимозаменя́емость (vzaimozamenjájemostʹ)state of being complementary
Cite this entry
APA

complementarity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complementarity

MLA

“complementarity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complementarity. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “complementarity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complementarity.

Source: complementarity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.