com·plete (k m-pl t )adj. com·plet·er, com·plet·est 1. Having all necessary or normal parts, components, or steps; entire: a complete meal. 2. Botany Having all principal parts, namely, the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistil or pistils. Used of a flower. 3. Having come to an end; concluded. 4. Absolute; total: "In Cairo I have seen buildings which were falling down as they were being put up, buildings whose incompletion was complete" (William H. Gass). 5. a. Skilled; accomplished: a complete musician. b. Thorough; consummate: a complete coward. 6. Football Caught in bounds by a receiver: a complete pass. tr.v. com·plet·ed, com·plet·ing, com·pletes 1. To bring to a finish or an end: She has completed her studies. 2. To make whole, with all necessary elements or parts: A second child would complete their family. 3. Football To throw (a forward pass) so as to be caught by a receiver.
[Middle English complet, from Latin compl tus, past participle of compl re, to fill out : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + pl re, to fill; see pel -1 in Indo-European roots.]
com·plete ly adv. com·plete ness n. com·ple tive adj. Synonyms: complete, close, end, finish, conclude, terminate These verbs mean to bring or come to a natural or proper stopping point. Complete and finish suggest the final stage in an undertaking: "Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime" (Reinhold Niebuhr). "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job" (Winston S. Churchill). Close applies to the ending of something ongoing or continuing: The band closed the concert with an encore. End emphasizes finality: We ended the meal with fruit and cheese. Conclude is more formal than complete and close: The author concluded the article by restating the major points. Terminate suggests reaching an established limit: The playing of the national anthem terminated the station's broadcast for the night. It also indicates the dissolution of a formal arrangement: The firm terminated my contract yesterday. Usage Note: Complete is sometimes considered absolute like perfect or chief, which is not subject to comparison. Nonetheless, it can be qualified as more or less, for example. A majority of the Usage Panel accepts the example His book is the most complete treatment of the subject. See Usage Note at absolute. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Adv. | 1. | completely - to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly'); "he was wholly convinced"; "entirely satisfied with the meal"; "it was completely different from what we expected"; "was completely at fault"; "a totally new situation"; "the directions were all wrong"; "it was not altogether her fault"; "an altogether new approach"; "a whole new idea"colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech | | 2. | completely - so as to be complete; with everything necessary; "he had filled out the form completely"; "the apartment was completely furnished" |
completely adverb totally, entirely, wholly, utterly, quite, perfectly, fully, solidly, absolutely, altogether, thoroughly, in full, every inch, en masse, heart and soul, a hundred per cent, one hundred per cent, from beginning to end, down to the ground, root and branch, in toto ( Latin) from A to Z, hook, line and sinker, lock, stock and barrel
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