Clinically

How to spell clinically

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce clinically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does clinically mean?

1. adverbIn a way relating to the direct observation and treatment of patients.
2. adverbIn a coldly objective, emotionally detached way.

Clinically in a sentence

• The new drug was clinically tested on several hundred volunteers.

• She analysed the failed project clinically, listing every mistake without emotion.

• The treatment proved clinically effective in a large group of patients.

• He described the accident clinically, as if reporting on a stranger.

Where does clinically come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek klinikos, an adjective meaning 'relating to a sickbed', built on klinē 'a bed or couch', which itself came from the verb klinein 'to lean or recline'. Latin took it up as clinicus, used of a physician who attended patients at the bedside, and the noun travelled into English in the seventeenth century as 'clinic', originally meaning bedside medical instruction rather than a building. The adjective 'clinical' followed, describing things connected with the direct observation and treatment of patients, and adding the adverbial -ly produced 'clinically'. The same klinein 'to lean' root quietly underlies a surprising family of words, including 'incline', 'recline' and even 'climate', so the sense of leaning or reclining sits behind them all. The modern figurative use, meaning coldly detached, grew from the way doctors are expected to assess symptoms dispassionately. The spelling trap is the full -ically chain: clinic plus al plus ly gives the doubled l that writers often drop.

How the word is built

• clinic (from Greek klinikos: relating to a sickbed)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)