Phrase guide

ones' complement

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The number obtained by subtracting a given n-digit binary number from 2n-1 (which yields the same result as the logical complement).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • The ones' complement of 0xAAAA is 0x5555 on a 16-bit machine, and 0xFFFF5555 on a 32-bit machine.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The convention by which bit patterns with high bit 0 represent positive numbers from 0 to 2n−1-1 directly, while bit patterns with high bit 1 represent negative numbers from 0 to -(2n−1-1), n being the word size of the machine, and the numeric complement of a number is its ones' complement.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • Computers that use ones' complement arithmetic have two representations for zero, all 0's and all 1's.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: yhden komplementti — number
  • Finnish: 1-komplementti — number
  • Polish: kod uzupełnień do jedności — number
  • Finnish: yhden komplementti — convention
  • Polish: kod uzupełnień do jedności — convention