clinical
Americanadjective
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pertaining to a clinic.
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concerned with or based on actual observation and treatment of disease in patients rather than experimentation or theory.
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extremely objective and realistic; dispassionately analytic; unemotionally critical.
She regarded him with clinical detachment.
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pertaining to or used in a sickroom.
a clinical bandage.
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Ecclesiastical.
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(of a sacrament) administered on a deathbed or sickbed.
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(of a convert or conversion) made on a deathbed or sickbed.
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adjective
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of or relating to a clinic
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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
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scientifically detached; strictly objective
a clinical attitude to life
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plain, simple, and usually unattractive
clinical furniture
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of clinical
Explanation
Something that's clinical is based on or connected to the study of patients. Clinical medications have actually been used by real people, not just studied theoretically. When you hear about clinical drug trials, you'll know there are patients taking them and being observed — this type of test can be called clinical research. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "emotionally cold" or "impersonal." If you have a choice between a detached, clinical French teacher and a warm, charming one, you might be more likely to choose the latter. This second meaning of clinical, from the mid-1920s, originally meant "as unemotional as a medical report."
Vocabulary lists containing clinical
"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
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Just Mercy
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National Nurses Week: Common Medical Terms
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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.
The South American side have been the most clinical, converting 18% of their chances, while the opposite is true of European champions Spain.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Eric Kauderer-Abrams, who leads life sciences at Anthropic, says that AI will bend the curve by attacking multiple bottlenecks at once to boost a drug’s clinical probability of success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
El Tri dominated possession but could not convert it into goals, while the English were clinical, led by Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
China’s advantage, he says, is in the speed at which companies can move from research ideas to clinical evidence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Finnick tells about the fog and the monkeys in a detached, almost clinical voice, avoiding the most important detail of the story.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
