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Which phrase means something is complete?

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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

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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

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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

Once the build-out is complete in a few years, capital spending will drop drastically.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

McKennah’s stats from Poly’s regular-season finale at Redondo Union on Wednesday reflect how complete a player she is.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

He said they had "shown complete incompetence" with their handling of the demonstrations and called them "specialists in organised chaos".

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

"He said that together we have accomplished extraordinary things... But there is still a mission to complete."

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026

According to the legend, the founder of the Academy had taken a complete set of World History books back in time and hidden them in some remote mountain cave.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Once Sentinel-3C completes commissioning, it will contribute to global sea-level monitoring alongside established satellite missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 and Jason.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

Still, Lerner emphasizes that, as the bull market completes its fourth year, “age alone is not a reason to become defensive.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Luna has said the county’s attorneys maintain that the unredacted records can’t be released until it completes a “meet and confer” process with the Sheriff’s Department union, a claim that watchdogs have disputed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Having sales associates offer personal styling services completes the illusion of shopping in a far more upscale store.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

To complement is to complete, to round out, or to bring to perfection; a complement is something that completes or makes whole.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

But the Cardinals came back with the help of a personal-foul penalty after a completed pass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

He completed the test when he returned and got rejected.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is performing even better than scientists anticipated after engineers completed an extensive series of tests and precision adjustments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

The hosts completed the scoring in the closing seconds through Eva Karpani after Scotland lost second row Eva Donaldson to a yellow card.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Sometimes the rule is that each move must be completed in no more than a second.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

After completing its stay, the spacecraft will carry time-sensitive research materials and other cargo back to Earth, ending its journey with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Daily Telegraph leads with reports that RAF jets had two close encounters with unidentified drones earlier this year while they were completing training exercises over the North Sea.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The department reported completing 19 programs and events this year, citing World Cup celebrations that combined sports screenings with art-making and dancing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

Public and private investors are also getting more wary about new AI data center developers with little experience completing projects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

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

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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Related Words

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

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