WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
complemen′tary distribu′tion, [Ling.]
- Linguisticsa relation such that the members of a pair or set of phones, morphs, or other linguistic units have no environment in common, as aspirated "p'' and unaspirated "p'' in English, the first occurring only in positions where the second does not. Also called complementation. Cf. free variation.
- 1930–35
'complementary distribution' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):