| complement |
| Definition: A word, phrase, or clause that is needed to complete a sentence's meaning. |
| Example:
She looks ill.
In the above the word ill is a subject complement. |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Latin complementum, that which fills up or completes. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation in this sense is from 1874: "The infinitive with to may also take the place of a predicative complement." (tr. Maetzner's Eng. Gram. III. 21) |