complemental

English

Etymology

From complement +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl

Adjective

complemental (not comparable)

1. Of the nature of a complement; completing.
2. Complementary.
3. (obsolete) Additional; supplemental, accessory; ancillary.
   • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, page 18:

     [I]t is an error worse than heresie, to adore these complemental and circumstantial pieces of felicity, and undervalue those perfections and essential points of happiness wherein we resemble our Maker.

4. (obsolete) Of the nature of a ceremony that is not essential but accessory; ceremonial; ceremonious; formal.
5. (obsolete) Of persons: accomplished; talented; experienced.
6. (obsolete) Complimentary.
   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature [E4], recto:

     I vvill make a complementall aſſault vpon him for my buſineſſe ſeeth's.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 39, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     I have no skill in ceremonious letters, which have no other substance, but a faire contexture of complemental phrases and curteous words.

Derived terms

• complemental air
• complemental angle
• complemental male
• complementalness
• uncomplemental

 

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “complemental”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.