Word.ws English Dictionary

clerical

UK/ˈklɛɹɪkəl/

clerical adjective: of or relating to clerks or their work.

Adjective

clerical (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to clerks or their work.
    • ‘The groans of this sick person,’ he said, ‘distract my attention. And without that it is extremely difficult to guard against clerical errors in this climate.’1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I
    • "Yes," agreed Carrados, "naturally—where they make the Bank of England note paper. And how extraordinarily interesting his work there must be. Has he to do directly with the paper when it's made or is his department purely clerical?"1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  2. Of or relating to the clergy.
    Synonyms:
    black-collar, cleric

Noun

clerical (plural clericals)

  1. (uncommon) A member of the clergy.
  2. (in plural, informal) Clerical garments.

clerical meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Tagalog

clerical in Tamil

எழுத்தர் வகைப்பணி

clerical in Urdu

دفتری

clerical in Malayalam

ഗുമസ്തനെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, പുരോഹിതരെ സംബന്ധിച്ച

clerical in Tagalog

of or relating to the clergy
simbahanin

Examples of clerical in a sentence

  • In many churches some pews are reserved for either clerical or liturgical officials such as canons, or for prominent families.
  • They seemed more lay than clerical.
  • Additionally all rulings in the revolutionary and clerical courts are final and cannot bebreak; overturned.

All 19 example sentences with clerical

Synonyms of clerical

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of clerical

Forms of clerical

pluralclericals

Origin of clerical

From Late Latin clēricālis (“clerical”), from clēricus (“clergyman, priest”).

Words formed from clerical

Phrases with clerical

Questions about clerical

What does clerical mean?
Clerical means of or relating to clerks or their work.
What is clerical in Tamil?
Clerical in Tamil is எழுத்தர் வகைப்பணி. See Clerical meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is clerical?
Clerical can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce clerical?
Clerical is pronounced /ˈklɛɹɪkəl/ (UK).

Words near clerical in the dictionary

  1. clergyperson
  2. clergypersons
  3. clergywoman
  4. clergywomen
  5. cleric
  6. clerical
  7. clerical collar
  8. clerical collars
  9. clerical error
  10. clerical errors
  11. clerical marriage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clerical (page history and authors); clerical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clerical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clerical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-clerical.ogg.

Cite this entry: “clerical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clerical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.