Complementàries

Complementàries is the feminine plural form of the Catalan adjective complementària, meaning complementary or supplementary. The term is used to describe elements that complete, augment, or fill out a main thing, providing additional functionality, information, or support without being essential on their own.

In Catalan usage, complementàries appears across academic, professional, and everyday language. It commonly accompanies feminine nouns such as assignatures complementàries (elective courses), funcions complementàries (complementary functions), and aportacions complementàries (additional contributions). The phrase often signals that the described element works in conjunction with a primary component to achieve a broader effect.

Examples of usage include: una estratègia amb elements complementàries que milloren l’eficàcia del projecte (a strategy with complementary elements that improve project effectiveness) and dades complementàries que contextualitzen els resultats (supplementary data that contextualizes the results). The term can also describe relationships where two aspects provide mutual enhancement, such as característiques complementàries entre mòduls del sistema.

Etymology: complementària derives from Latin complementarius, via developments in Romance languages, and has been integrated into Catalan with its feminine plural form complementàries to agree with feminine nouns.

See also: complement, complementarity, supplementary, elective course.