Etymologically
Log in

complimentary

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/[1]
  • UK: /ˌkɒmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English compliment + -ary.[2][3][4] Compliment is from French compliment, from Italian complimento (“expression of respect and civility”), from a Romance variant of Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”),[5][6][3] from compleō (“to fill up, complete”).[3] It is the same word as complement.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Expressing or conveying a compliment.[2][3] The dates differ: Etymonline and Dictionary.com put the word in the 1620s,[3][4] and the OED's 1989 edition had quotations from 1628,[7] but the current OED starts the sense in 1715,[2] the Shorter Oxford in the early 18th century,[6] and Merriam-Webster in 1714.[8]

Semantic evolution

Used of people, given to paying compliments, the word is recorded from 1880, in Ouida.[2] The sense "given free of charge", as a courtesy, appears in 1826, in the Morning Post,[2] and Etymonline calls it a looser later use.[3] Etymonline connects it with compliment in the sense of a gift or favour bestowed as a courtesy; the verb had the matching sense, to show regard by a gift or favour, by the 1690s.[3]

Timeline

  • 1620s – expressing or conveying a compliment.[3][4] The current OED's first quotation for this sense is from 1715.[2]
  • 1826 – given free of charge.[2]
  • 1880 – of persons, paying compliments.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Expressing praise or admiration; flattering: The critics were complimentary about her first novel.[9][8][2]
  2. Given free, as a courtesy or for publicity: two complimentary tickets to the opening night.[9][8][2]
  3. Of the nature of a compliment.[8][2]

Word family

  • complimentarily
  • complimentariness

Usage notes

Complimentary and its homophone complementary, completing or making up a whole, are often confused.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins