Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun complementary_distribution

1 sense of complementary distribution

Sense 1
complementary distribution, complementation -- ((linguistics) a distribution of related speech sounds or forms in such a way that they only appear in different contexts)
       => distribution, dispersion -- (the spatial or geographic property of being scattered about over a range, area, or volume; "worldwide in distribution"; "the distribution of nerve fibers"; "in complementary distribution")