clerical
pronunciation
How to pronounce clerical in British English:
UK [ˈklerɪkl]
How to pronounce clerical in American English:
US [ˈklerɪkl]
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- Adjective:
- of or relating to clerks
- of or relating to the clergy
- appropriate for or engaged in office work
Word Origin
- clerical (adj.)
- 1590s, "pertaining to the clergy," from cleric + -al (1), or from French clérical, from Old French clerigal "learned," from Latin clericalis, from clericus (see cleric). Meaning "pertaining to clerks" is from 1798.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Newspapers demanded to know if the pope would meet victims of clerical sex abuse .
- 2. Alternatively , " pure " clerical power can use its prerogatives ( over sacraments like baptism or marriage or absolution ) to exercise authority over everybody else , including worldly rulers .
- 3. It 's a role that sadr , the scion of a prominent clerical family , has been building toward since 2003 .
- 4. King abdullah bin abdulaziz al saud , saudi arabia 's 87-year-old ruler , has engaged in a gradual programme of social reforms , some of them easing some restrictions against women , despite strong opposition from the fundamentalist clerical establishment .
- 5. On the same day police raided the home of a retired archbishop , drilled holes in the tomb of at least one cardinal ( looking for hidden papers ) and took away 450 documents from the office of a church committee that was probing clerical abuse .