Completive (redirected from completives)

com·plete  (km-plt)

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.

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[Middle English complet, from Latin compltus, past participle of complre, to fill out : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + plre, to fill; see pel-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

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com·pletely adv.

com·pleteness n.

com·pletive 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.