clerical
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of or about clerks or their work.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
klehruhkuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklɛɹəkəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to clerks or their work.
Of or relating to the clergy
noun
in the pluralinformal
Clerical garments.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to clerks or their work.
Used this way, clerical is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use clerical
- “She handles all the clerical duties in the office.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A clergyman or other person in religious orders.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A stiff white collar with no opening in the front.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
An employee who performs clerical work (e.g., keeps records or accounts).
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.