mild or merciful in disposition or character; lenient; compassionate.
A clement judge reduced his sentence.
(of the weather) mild or temperate; pleasant.
merciful
(of the weather) mild
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English either from Old French or directly from Latin clēment-, stem of clēmēns “gentle, merciful”
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Los Angeles bills itself as the home of endlessly clement weather.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
