Definition of "complementary" []

• Forming or serving as a complement; completing. (adjective)
• Supplying mutual needs or offsetting mutual lacks. (adjective)
• Genetics Of or relating to a group of genes that act in concert to produce a specific phenotype. (adjective)
• Biochemistry Of or relating to the specific pairing of the purines and pyrimidines between strands of a DNA or an RNA molecule. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term complementary implies similarity in the main elements of character with adaptable differences."
• "In general, the term complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used to cover all the practices, other than the standard medical care techniques (or conventional methods)."
• "BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: I think she and Howard Stern are what we call complementary narcissists, meaning that they have the unique individual attributes of narcissists, but that ` s blossomed once they got together, so they feel that they ` re special, unique, above the law."