Meaning & use
complementarity
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Meanings
noununcountableformal
The quality of two or more things fitting together so that each makes up for what the other lacks.
Grammar: Usually followed by between or of: the complementarity between the two roles.
Patterns
- complementarity between A and B
- the complementarity of something
The partnership works because of the complementarity between her technical skill and his sales sense.
Researchers noted the complementarity of the two datasets.
Wine and cheese owe their popularity partly to a natural complementarity of flavor.
noununcountablephysicstechnical
In quantum physics, the principle that something such as light can show wave-like or particle-like behavior, but an experiment cannot reveal both at once.
Grammar: Often appears with Bohr's name or the phrase wave-particle duality.
Patterns
- the principle of complementarity
Bohr's principle of complementarity helped explain the double-slit experiment.
The lecture on complementarity left several students puzzled.
Complementarity means measuring one property can rule out seeing its partner.
Common combinations
- complementarity between
- There is a clear complementarity between the two curricula.
- principle of complementarity
- The principle of complementarity is central to quantum theory.
- functional complementarity
- The team showed functional complementarity, each member covering a different task.
- economic complementarity
- Trade grew because of the economic complementarity of the two regions.
- emphasize complementarity
- The report emphasizes complementarity rather than competition among the agencies.
Synonyms and how they differ
- synergy
- Synergy stresses that the combined effect is greater than the parts, while complementarity only claims they fit and fill each other's gaps.
- compatibility
- Compatibility means things can coexist without conflict, but complementarity means each adds something the other needs.
- harmony
- Harmony is a looser, more emotional word for things agreeing, whereas complementarity is analytical.
Opposites
Word family
- complement noun
- something that completes or goes well with another thing
- complement verb
- to complete or improve something by adding to it
- complementary adjective
- fitting together to complete each other
- complementarily adverb
- in a way that completes or supplements
Commonly confused: complementarity or complimentary?
complementarity vs complimentary
Complimentary means expressing praise or given free, while complementary and complementarity concern completing something.
Practice
Which word is the correct choice? 'The team's strength lies in the ______ of its members' skills; each covers what the others lack.'
Choose one answer.
Complementarity describes skills that complete one another. Complimentarity is a misspelling, and complexity and competitiveness do not express filling gaps.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “complementarity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.