Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or characterized by a highly developed or wide-ranging skill or proficiency.
  • adjective Being an outstanding example of a kind; quintessential.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An obsolete spelling of complete.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic to finish; to make done; to reach the end.
  • verb archaic to make whole or entire.
  • adjective archaic with everything included; entire, total.
  • adjective archaic quintessential.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Variant of complete.]

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Examples

  • The word compleat should be considered poetic license.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VII No 3 1980

  • More Compliments of the Author I. Evolution of a Compleat Book Collector You will recall that we ascribed four stages of development to the evolution of a "compleat" book collector - Book Lover, Connoisseur, Fanatic, and Bibliomaniac.

    In The Queens' Parlour Queen, Ellery 1864

  • William Fairfax told him the New York independent companies at Alexandria were “not compleat,” and further that Colonel Innes would not leave Winchester without them.

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • But it is still elegant and compleat, and Mama found room to underline or make comments in her copperplate handwriting, using peacock-blue fountain pen ink in delicate lines.

    The Quality of Meter 2010

  • William Fairfax told him the New York independent companies at Alexandria were “not compleat,” and further that Colonel Innes would not leave Winchester without them.

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

  • Ever since the 1920s, the Arabs made no bones about their desire to annihilate the Jews, and did their best to do so, compleat with actively siding with the Nazis in the 1940s.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » A Strange Thing About the Controversy Over Jerusalem 2010

  • He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

    The Declaration of Independence 2009

  • But it is still elegant and compleat, and Mama found room to underline or make comments in her copperplate handwriting, using peacock-blue fountain pen ink in delicate lines.

    Archive 2010-01-01 2010

  • For exmple; in part two of the season finale, each memeber of “the five” has to compleat a special task to retrive a key.

    Sanctuary set to return to Sci-Fi (SyFy) this Fall! « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more 2009

  • Wherein a Description is given for a one-bit full Adder, and a compleat Implementation in LEGO is presented.

    December « 2009 « The Half-Baked Maker 2009

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