complete

American  

[kuhm-pleet] / kəmˈplit /

adjective

1. having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full.

   a complete set of Mark Twain's writings.

   Synonyms:

   unbroken

   Antonyms:

   partial

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.

   Antonyms:

   defective

4. thorough; entire; total; undivided, uncompromised, or unmodified.

   a complete victory;

   a complete mess.

5. Grammar. having all modifying or complementary elements included.

   The complete subject of “The dappled pony gazed over the fence” is “The dappled pony.”

6. Football. Also completed. (of a forward pass) caught by a receiver.

7. Logic. (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.

8. Engineering. noting a determinate truss having the least number of members required to connect the panel points so as to form a system of triangles.

9. (of persons) accomplished; skilled; expert.

10. Mathematics.

    1. of or relating 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 relating to a set in which every fundamental sequence converges to an element of the set.

    3. (of a lattice) having the property that every subset has a least upper bound and a greatest lower bound.

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verb (used with object)

completes, present (3rd person singular) completed, past participle, past completing present participle

1. to make whole or entire.

   I need three more words to complete the puzzle.

   Synonyms:

   close, conclude, terminate, achieve, accomplish, perfect, consummate

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. Football. to execute (a forward pass) successfully.

   He completed 17 passes in 33 attempts.

complete British  

/ kəmˈpliːt /

adjective

1. having every necessary part or element; entire

2. ended; finished

3. (prenominal) thorough; absolute

   he is a complete rogue

4. perfect in quality or kind

   he is a complete scholar

5. (of a logical system) constituted such that a contradiction arises on the addition of any proposition that cannot be deduced from the axioms of the system Compare consistent

6. (of flowers) having sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels

7. archaic expert or skilled; accomplished

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verb

1. to make whole or perfect

2. to end; finish

3. (in land law) to pay any outstanding balance on a contract for the conveyance of land in exchange for the title deeds, so that the ownership of the land changes hands

4. American football (of a quarterback) to make a forward pass successfully

Usage

Occasionally there are objections to modifying complete with qualifiers like almost, more, most, nearly, and quite, because they suggest that complete is relative rather than absolute: an almost complete record; a more complete proposal; the most complete list available. However, such uses are fully standard and occur regularly in all varieties of spoken and written English. See also perfect, unique.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• completedness
  noun
• completeness
  noun
• completer
  noun
• completion
  noun
• precompleteness
  noun
• subcompleteness
  noun
• uncompleteness
  noun
• completable
  adjective
• completive
  adjective
• half-completed
  adjective
• quasi-complete
  adjective
• subcomplete
  adjective
• uncompletable
  adjective
• uncomplete
  adjective
• uncompleted
  adjective
• well-completed
  adjective
• completely
  adverb
• completively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• completing
  present
• completed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• complete
  simple
• completes
  simple
• have completed
  perfect
• has completed
  perfect
• am completing
  progressive
• are completing
  progressive
• is completing
  progressive
• have been completing
  perfect progressive
• has been completing
  perfect progressive

Past

• completed
  simple
• had completed
  perfect
• was completing
  progressive
• were completing
  progressive
• had been completing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will complete
  simple
• will have completed
  perfect
• will be completing
  progressive
• will have been completing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of complete

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French or directly from Latin complētus (past participle of complēre “to fill up, fulfill,” equivalent to com- com- + plē- fill + -tus past participle suffix

Explanation

Complete means that something is finished, or has all of its necessary parts. When the mechanic hands you your keys, you hope that the work on your car is complete, and he hasn't left out a few important pieces of your engine. Complete can be used as an adjective to describe something that is whole or finished, like a complete turkey dinner, which includes not only the bird, but also the stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy. Another way to use complete is as a verb meaning to make something whole. Adding candles completes the birthday cake.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

complete completes completed completing

“Marcus took a good theory developed in the 1920s and ‘30s, brought it up to date in 1951 and made it complete.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

Villa are also close to completing the £38m signing of Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes, who left the Championship club's training camp in Portugal on Thursday to complete a medical.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Yet it’s clear that the artist did see Mary as benevolent, given her complete association with the mountain, which had long been an Andean sacred site, a place where and to which native people prayed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Is it possible to complete a credit-card debt settlement negotiation without ending up with bad credit?

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

When his list was complete, he should begin pointing to each number in turn.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Helou said Blumenfield’s motion completes the loop by keeping food waste close to home, creating more local composting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transporting waste outside of the city.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

The DBS said, on average, it completes 2.6 million Basic-level checks each year, with 36,000 revealing a conviction.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

Those funds bought shares at a discount to the offer value so they could profit when the takeover deal completes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

The move “gives us the option to go public after the SEC completes its review,” Anthropic said in a statement.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026

“I believe Adiah will be quite accomplished in a few years, once she completes her training.”

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

BlackRock completed the purchase of private credit company HPS a year ago.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

In that time, Kane completed loan stints at Norwich and Leicester and broke into the Tottenham team.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

He theorized that his initial test was flagged because he completed it very quickly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

It was also completed before the breakdown of the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

It seemed that they had completed about a third of their journey.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

The employees were completing routine field work near the picturesque waters of Gumboot Lake when things took a terrifying turn.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

After completing his round DeChambeau travelled back to the scene of the incident at the fifth hole and was seen in animated discussions with a rules official.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

New construction slowed down in 2024 and 2025 as developers focused on completing projects already in the works and leasing empty space.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

The Academy Award-winning star and her husband, director Taylor Hackford, have relisted their longtime Hollywood Hills estate for just a touch under $13 million after completing an extensive renovation at the storied property.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

The two theories had to be congenitally linked—each bolstering and completing the other.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• accomplish
• achieve
• close
• conclude
• determine
• develop
• do
• end
• execute
• finalize
• finish
• halt
• perform
• realize
• settle
• wrap up