clinical

[ klin-i-kuhl ]
See synonyms for clinical on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. pertaining to a clinic.

  2. concerned with or based on actual observation and treatment of disease in patients rather than experimentation or theory.

  1. extremely objective and realistic; dispassionately analytic; unemotionally critical: She regarded him with clinical detachment.

  2. pertaining to or used in a sickroom: a clinical bandage.

  3. Ecclesiastical.

    • (of a sacrament) administered on a deathbed or sickbed.

    • (of a convert or conversion) made on a deathbed or sickbed.

Origin of clinical

1
First recorded in 1770–80; clinic + -al1

Other words from clinical

  • clin·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • non·clin·i·cal, adjective
  • non·clin·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • o·ver·clin·i·cal, adjective
  • o·ver·clin·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • sem·i·clin·i·cal, adjective
  • sem·i·clin·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • un·clin·i·cal, adjective

Words Nearby clinical

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use clinical in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for clinical

clinical

/ (ˈklɪnɪkəl) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to a clinic

  2. of or relating to the bedside of a patient, the course of his disease, or the observation and treatment of patients directly: a clinical lecture; clinical medicine

  1. scientifically detached; strictly objective: a clinical attitude to life

  2. plain, simple, and usually unattractive: clinical furniture

Derived forms of clinical

  • clinically, adverb
  • clinicalness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012