English

Proper noun

Clement

1. A male given name, borne by an early pope and by several saints.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV):: Philippians 4:3:

     And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

Related terms

• Clementine

Translations

English

Adjective

clement ‎(comparative more clement, superlative most clement)

1. Lenient or merciful; charitable.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Cymbeline, Act V

     I know you are more clement than vile men, / Who of their broken debtors take a third, / A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again / On their abatement:

   • a 1891, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, published 1924, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18,

     Your clement sentence they would account pusillanimous.

2. Said of weather and similar circumstances that are mild.
   • 1984, Edna O'Brien, "The Bachelor" in A Fanatic Heart, New York: Plume, p. 66,

     The weather is clement, though there was a downpour yesterday and I was obliged to take precautions.

   • 1992, A. B. Yehoshua, Mr. Mani, translated by Hillel Halkin, New York: Doubleday, pp. 314-5,

     The earth was still dry and the air was perfectly clement.

Antonyms

• inclement

Related terms

• clemency

Translations

References

1. ↑ clement in: T. F. Hoad, Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-283098-8