com·ple·men·ta·ry .käm-plə-'ment-ə-rē, -'men-trē adj
1) relating to or constituting one of a pair of contrasting colors that produce a neutral color when combined in suitable proportions
2) characterized by molecular complementarity esp characterized by the capacity for precise pairing of purine and pyrimidine bases between strands of DNA and sometimes RNA such that the structure of one strand determines the other
com·ple·men·ta·ri·ly -'men-trə-lē, -(.)men-'ter-ə-lē, -'ment-ə-rə-lē adv
com·ple·men·ta·ri·ness -'ment-ə-rē-nəs, -'men-trē- n
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com·ple·men·ta·ry (kom″plə-menґtə-re) [L. complēre to fill out or up] 1. supplying a defect, or helping to do so; making complete; accessory. 2. in biochemistry, pertaining to the specific pairing between purine and pyrimidine bases in two nucleotide strands as a function of the base-pairing rules, so that the sequence of a strand defines the order of the strand that is complementary to it.Medical dictionary. 2011.