Complement, Compliment
Both are awesome on a first date — complement means to complete something, and a compliment is flattering. If you feel you and your new friend complement each other, maybe it's because he's been giving you so many compliments like when he says you look like a supermodel.
To complement, with an e, means to complete or supplement something, such as chocolates complementing the flowers you give your date. A complement is the thing doing the completing. The chocolates are a complement to the flowers. Here are some things that go well together:
To compliment, with an i, is to offer praise to or admiration. This could be in the form of words or actions. You might compliment your date on his dance moves, for example. "Your moonwalk is perfect!" is a compliment. Here are more:
Once spelled the same, compliment became distinct from complement around 1650. They're still pronounced the same. You see the difference when they're written, so as long as you're just yapping no one will know if you mix them up. When writing, though, remember that a complement completes something, but I like getting compliments. (Description from Vocabulary.com) |