"Finish" means "bring to an end" or "come to the end of something." "Complete" means "make sure that something has no missing parts."
In some cases, the meanings of the two words overlap. In other cases, they do not.
So, you could say: "I finished the exam in less than an hour" or "Icompleted the exam in less than a hour." There would be no real difference in meaning between the two. In this situation, the two meaningsoverlap.
However, we say: "I have finished eating" but not "I have completedeating." This is because we can come to the end of eating, but we cannot make sure that eating has no missing parts.
Similarly, we complete the requirements for something, but we do not"finish" the requirements.
So, there are some contexts in which we can use only "finish" and other contexts in which we can use only "complete," and still other contexts in which we can use either "finish" or "complete".
There is a funny part of this also.
In some cases, the meanings of the two words overlap. In other cases, they do not.
So, you could say: "I finished the exam in less than an hour" or "Icompleted the exam in less than a hour." There would be no real difference in meaning between the two. In this situation, the two meaningsoverlap.
However, we say: "I have finished eating" but not "I have completedeating." This is because we can come to the end of eating, but we cannot make sure that eating has no missing parts.
Similarly, we complete the requirements for something, but we do not"finish" the requirements.
So, there are some contexts in which we can use only "finish" and other contexts in which we can use only "complete," and still other contexts in which we can use either "finish" or "complete".
There is a funny part of this also.
