clement
1 Americanadjective
-
mild or merciful in disposition or character; lenient; compassionate.
A clement judge reduced his sentence.
-
(of the weather) mild or temperate; pleasant.
noun
adjective
-
merciful
-
(of the weather) mild
Other Word Forms
- clemently adverb
- overclement adjective
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”
Example Sentences
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
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
In many cases the colonists might have to change—or as we would parochially say, terraform—a world to make it adequately clement.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
