Lexic.us

Definition of Complement

1. Noun. A word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction.

2. Verb. Make complete or perfect; supply what is wanting or form the complement to. "I need some pepper to complement the sweet touch in the soup"

3. Noun. A complete number or quantity. "A full complement"

4. Noun. Number needed to make up a whole force. "A full complement of workers"

5. Noun. Something added to complete or embellish or make perfect. "Wild rice was served as an accompaniment to the main dish"

6. Noun. One of a series of enzymes in the blood serum that are part of the immune response.

7. Noun. Either of two parts that mutually complete each other.

Definition of Complement

1. n. That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete.

2. v. t. To supply a lack; to supplement.

Definition of Complement

1. Noun. (rare) Something (or someone) that completes; the consummation. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

2. Noun. (obsolete) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment. (defdate 15th-18th c.) ¹

3. Noun. The totality, the full amount or number which completes something. (defdate from 16th c.) ¹

4. Noun. (obsolete) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc.; an accessory. (defdate 16th-17th c.) ¹

5. Noun. (heraldry) Fullness (of the moon). (defdate from 17th c.) ¹

6. Noun. (astronomy geometry) An angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle. (defdate from 18th c.) ¹

7. Noun. Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole; loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition. (defdate from 19th c.) ¹

8. Noun. (grammar) A word or group of words that completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object. (defdate from 19th c.) ¹

9. Noun. (music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave. (defdate from 19th c.) ¹

10. Noun. (optics) The color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light). (defdate from 19th c.) ¹

11. Noun. (set theory) Given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement). (defdate from 20th c.) ¹

12. Noun. (immunology) One of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response. (defdate from 20th c.) ¹

13. Noun. (logic) An expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa. (defdate from 20th c.) ¹

14. Noun. (electronics) A voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one. ¹

15. Noun. (computing) A bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number. ¹

16. Noun. (computing mathematics) The diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number. ¹

17. Noun. (computing mathematics) The radix complement of a number; the two's complement of a binary number. ¹

18. Noun. (computing mathematics) The numeric complement of a number. ¹

19. Noun. (genetics) A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa. ¹

20. Noun. (obsolete spelling of compliment) ¹

21. Verb. To complete, to bring to perfection, to make whole. ¹

22. Verb. To provide what the partner lacks and lack what the partner provides. ¹

23. Verb. To change a voltage, number, color, etc. to its complement. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Complement

1. [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Complement

1. A term originally used to refer to the heat labile factor in serum that causes immune cytolysis, the lysis of antibody coated cells and now referring to the entire functionally related system comprising at least 20 distinct serum proteins that is the effector not only of immune cytolysis but also of other biologic functions. Complement activation occurs by two different sequences, the classic and alternative pathways. The proteins of the classic pathway are termed components of complement and are designated by the symbols C1 through C9. C1 is a calcium dependent complex of three distinct proteins C1q, C1r and C1s. The proteins of the alternative pathway (collectively referred to as the properdin system) and complement regulatory proteins are known by semisystematic or trivial names. Fragments resulting from proteolytic cleavage of complement proteins are designated with lower case letter suffixes, for example, C3a. Inactivated fragments may be designated with the suffix i, for example C3bi. Activated components or complexes with biological activity are designated by a bar over the symbol for example C1 or C4b, 2a. The classic pathway is activated by the binding of C1 to classic pathway activators, primarily antigen-antibody complexes containing IgM, IgG1, IgG3, C1q binds to a single IgM molecule or two adjacent IgG molecules. The alternative pathway can be activated by IgA immune complexes and also by nonimmunologic materials including bacterial endotoxins, microbial polysaccharides and cell walls. Activation of the classic pathway triggers an enzymatic cascade involving C1, C4, C2 and C3, activation of the alternative pathway triggers a cascade involving C3 and factors B, D and P. Both result in the cleavage of C5 and the formation of the membrane attack complex. Complement activation also results in the formation of many biologically active complement fragments that act as anaphylatoxins, opsonins or chemotactic factors. (05 Jan 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Complement

complanadine complanar compleat compleated compleatest compleating compleatly compleats complect complected

complecting complection complectional complections complects complement complement-fixation reaction complement-fixation test complement-fixing antibody complement 1

complement 1 inactivators complement 1q complement 1r complement 1s complement 2 complement 3 complement 3 convertase complement 3 nephritic factor complement 3a complement 3b

Literary usage of Complement

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Philippine Journal of Science by Philippines Bureau of Science (1908)
"No haemolysis is produced if the fresh serum is not added, or if it contains no free complement. Any procedure which removes the free complement will ..."

2. Chemical Abstracts by American Chemical Society (1916)
"for 30 min., complement fixation occurred in 38-49% of sera. With both active and inactive sera the highest percentage of positive reactions was observed ..."

3. Pathogenic microorganisms by William Hallock Park (1920)
"fixation (ie, the amount of complement fixed) will vary with the different amounts of the patient's serum, the larger amounts of serum leading to the ..."

4. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1911)
"Likewise, complement may be lacking in the serum of general ... It seems probable to Eliasberg that the absence of complement, together with the presence of ..."

5. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1905)
"(c) With Chfs Complement— The ox's complement is not a very ... Nevertheless, we have found that the dose of ox's complement, along with the immune-body to ..."

6. Practical Bacteriology, Blood Work and Animal Parasitology: Including by Edward Rhodes Stitt (1909)
"One of the controversies in connection with the nature of the complement is that regarding the ... To prove that a single complement will act with varying ..."

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