clinically

American  

[kli-nik-lee] / ˈklɪ nɪk li /

adverb

1. in a clinical way.

---

Explanation

When a medication has been clinically proven, it's been tested on actual patients. Clinically can also describe a cold and detached manner, a personality better suited to robots than people. It's a good thing when doctors and scientists do things clinically, because they're not only using studies and statistics to make decisions — they're talking to and observing patients. On the other hand, when a doctor treats you clinically at your yearly appointment, she is efficient but aloof, rather than warm and welcoming. Clinically is from clinical, from the Latin clinicus, "physician who visits patients in their beds," with the Greek root klinike, "at the sickbed."

Example Sentences

The billboard poster claimed the Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Epigenetic Serum was "clinically proven" following a study of 160 people who used the product for four weeks before being asked how much younger they thought they looked.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

A Medicare official recently said that paying for care that isn’t clinically appropriate is “just not something we should accept as Americans.”

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

The researchers note that further studies in humans are needed before this approach can be used clinically.

From Science Daily • Mar. 23, 2026

However, Pfizer said it is confident in the vaccine’s potential, noting that this criterion was met in the second pre-specified analysis and the clinically meaningful efficacy demonstrated in the trial.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

I see now why he takes such a clinically distant approach to his work.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein