Compliment or complement - meaning of compliment - complement meaning - difference between compliment and complement

Most of us have been using the word 'complement' even without knowing that such word exists. I am surely one of them who never knew that 'complement' was a word until I saw a question in my English exam, which asked me whether compliment or complement was the right answer. The question was as follows.

James and Jenifer compliment/complement each other.

For a moment, I thought this question was one of the no-brainer ones that are asked to check if we have no brain. Also, I never ever saw the word, 'complement' ever in my life before then. So, I chose 'compliment' as the answer. My teacher definitely did not compliment me for choosing that answer. That was when she taught me and almost everyone at the class the difference between compliment and complement. Before telling you the difference, let me tell you the correct answer to the above question. It is 'complement' with spelling E.

Difference between compliment and complement:

A compliment is the usual word that many know. When you do something great, people congratulate you on that achievement. That is called a compliment. When you get married, people wish you good luck. That can also be called a compliment. When someone praises you saying you are handsome, beautiful, etc., that is also called a compliment. Now, this brings us to the next question. What is the meaning of complement?

Meaning of complement:

A complement is a feature that will improve the performance of something or someone. A complement is also something without which a product or a person looks incomplete. An age-old example for this would be, husband and wife should complement each other.

The above example means that, when husband lacks inspiration, the wife has to give that. When wife lacks in something, the husband has to provide that. They both have to live their lives in such a way that one will be improving the other person's life, and being together, both their lives would excel.

Another trendy example would be, laces and shoes complement each other.

Without laces, shoes are useless. And, without shoes, laces would simple be called as ropes. So, laces and shoes improve each other's use by being together. Hence, laces complement shoes and vice-versa.

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