Sunday 1 July 2007

A good word...

com·ple·men·tar·i·ty [kom-pluh-men-tar-i-tee]
–noun
the quality or state of being complementary.
[Origin: 1910–15; complementar(y) + -ity]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)


com·ple·men·tar·i·ty (kŏm'plə-měn-tār'ĭ-tē)
n.
The state or quality of being complementary: "This is where the complementarity of the masculine and the feminine so acutely emerges. They are the necessary poles of a dialectic process" (Therese Namenek).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.


complementarity
noun
1. a relation between two opposite states or principles that together exhaust the possibilities
2. the interrelation of reciprocity whereby one thing supplements or depends on the other; "the complementarity of the sexes"
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.


complementarity (kŏm'plə-mən-târ'ĭ-tē)
The concept that the underlying properties of entities (especially subatomic particles) may manifest themselves in contradictory forms at different times, depending on the conditions of observation; thus, any physical model of an entity exclusively in terms of one form or the other will be necessarily incomplete. For example, although a unified quantum mechanical understanding of such phenomena as light has been developed, light sometimes exhibits properties of waves and sometimes properties of particles (an example of wave-particle duality). See also uncertainty principle.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.


com·ple·men·tar·i·ty (kmpl-mn-tr-t)
n.
The correspondence or similarity between nucleotides or strands of nucleotides of DNA and RNA molecules that allows precise pairing.
The affinity that an antigen and an antibody have for each other as a result of the chemical arrangement of their combining sites.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.


Main Entry: com·ple·men·tar·i·ty
Pronunciation: "käm-pl&-(")men-'tar-&t-E, -m&n-
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ties
: correspondence in reverse of part of one molecule to part of another: as a : the arrangement of chemical groups and electric charges that enables a combining group of an antibody to combine with a specific determinant group of an antigen or hapten b : the correspondence between strands or nucleotides of DNA or sometimes RNA that permits their precise pairing
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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