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• clement
  clement

  adjective

  mild or merciful in disposition or character; lenient; compassionate.
• Clement
  Clement

  noun

  a male given name.

clement

¹ American  

[klem-uhnt] / ˈklɛm ənt /

adjective

1. mild or merciful in disposition or character; lenient; compassionate.

   A clement judge reduced his sentence.

2. (of the weather) mild or temperate; pleasant.

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Clement ² American  

[klem-uhnt] / ˈklɛm ənt /

noun

1. a male given name.

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clement British  

/ ˈklɛmənt /

adjective

1. merciful

2. (of the weather) mild

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Other Word Forms

• overclement
  adjective
• clemently
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of clement

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English either from Old French or directly from Latin clēment-, stem of clēmēns “gentle, merciful”

Explanation

Clement weather is lovely and mild. You might describe a beautiful, warm summer evening as clement. Clement can describe a pleasant climate — "The thing about Hawaii is it's such a clement place, always." — or even a merciful, gentle person. It's much more common to hear the antonym of clement, inclement, describing terrible weather. Clement first appeared in the 13th century as a surname, or last name, from the Latin clementem, "mild or placid," and was used to describe nice weather by the 17th century.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clement Clement

Come the super-G and Von Allmen benefited from a low bib number as the snow softened in increasingly clement conditions, meaning later racers struggled for speed.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

For those of us hoping to find more clement Earth-like worlds, that wasn’t very satisfying.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 10, 2023

The Hampden pitch bore the scars of Saturday's semi-final being played in horrible weather but Sunday's more clement conditions made for an engrossing tie.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2023

It was already here, in the enticements of broad, flat fields, a clement climate, and the human urge to surge, on horseback or in the driver’s seat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2022

Squire Julian Gingivere merely nodded, and addressed them in a regal but distant manner: “Good afternoon. Very clement weather for the time of year, don’t you think?”

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

The New Zealand TV series “Wellington Paranormal” is also set in this universe and Clement has stated that he and Waititi are working on a werewolf-themed series.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Coxon's views have also been questioned by the CEO of the AI platform Hugging Face, Clement Delangue.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

The St. Clement, which has 90 rooms and 15 suites in addition to the penthouse, occupies the Thames-facing part of a nine-story brutalist building erected on the Strand in the 1970s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The brasserie-like Café Clement serves an all-day menu developed by head chef Danny Bohan, formerly of the River Cafe, whose signature lobster omelet is among the fare.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

“Do you know if Ms. Clement is okay?”

From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake