clinical

[klin-i-kuhl]

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.

3. extremely objective and realistic; dispassionately analytic; unemotionally critical.

   She regarded him with clinical detachment.

4. pertaining to or used in a sickroom.

   a clinical bandage.

5. Ecclesiastical.

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

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

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

3. scientifically detached; strictly objective

   a clinical attitude to life

4. plain, simple, and usually unattractive

   clinical furniture

Other Word Forms

• clinically adverb
• nonclinical adjective
• nonclinically adverb
• overclinical adjective
• overclinically adverb
• semiclinical adjective
• semiclinically adverb
• unclinical adjective
• clinicalness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of clinical¹

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

Example Sentences

Nonprofits also can help investors and biotechs understand issues such as how the design of a clinical trial affects patients’ ability to participate in the study, Coetzee said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Former employees of biotechnology company Moderna launched Dash last year to automate the analysis of samples from clinical trials and animal studies for drugmakers.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

With the public markets shunning early-stage biotechs, startups aspiring to an IPO need to advance drugs into clinical trials.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Based on this fundamental knowledge, clinical trials are ongoing to test therapies for autoimmune diseases, cancer and post-organ transplantation.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Denali plans to bring one to two candidates to clinical development each year.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• analytic 
• impersonal 
• scientific