complete: Meaning and Definition of

com•plete

Pronunciation: (kum-plēt'), [key]
— adj., v., -plet•ed, -plet•ing.
—adj.
  1. having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full: a complete set of Mark Twain's writings.
  2. finished; ended; concluded: a complete orbit.
  3. having all the required or customary characteristics, skills, or the like; consummate; perfect in kind or quality: a complete scholar.
  4. thorough; entire; total; undivided, uncompromised, or unmodified: a complete victory; a complete mess.
  5. having all modifying or complementary elements included:Cf. simple (def. 20). The complete subject of “The dappled pony gazed over the fence” is “The dappled pony.”
  6. (of a forward pass) caught by a receiver.
  7. (of a set of axioms) such that every true proposition able to be formulated in terms of the basic ideas of a given system is deducible from the set. Cf. incomplete (def. 4b).
  8. noting a determinate truss having the least number of members required to connect the panel points so as to form a system of triangles. Cf. incomplete (def. 3),(def. 5c).
  9. (of persons) accomplished; skilled; expert.
    1. of or pertaining to an algebraic system, as a field with an order relation defined on it, in which every set of elements of the system has a least upper bound.
    2. of or pertaining to a set in which every fundamental sequence converges to an element of the set. Cf. fundamental sequence.
    3. (of a lattice) having the property that every subset has a least upper bound and a greatest lower bound.
—v.t.
  1. to make whole or entire: I need three more words to complete the puzzle.
  2. to make perfect: His parting look of impotent rage completed my revenge.
  3. to bring to an end; finish: Has he completed his new novel yet?
  4. to consummate.
  5. to execute (a forward pass) successfully: He completed 17 passes in 33 attempts.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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