[com.ple.men.ta.ry] adj (1829) 1: relating to or constituting one of a pair of contrasting colors that produce a neutral color when combined in suitable proportions
2: serving to fill out or complete
3: mutually supplying each other's lack
4: being complements of each other "~ acute angles"
5: characterized by the capacity for precise pairing of purine and pyrimidine bases between strands of DNA and sometimes RNA such that the structure of one strand determines the other -- com.ple.men.ta.ri.ly adv -- com.ple.men.ta.ri.ness n -- complementary n