Dictionary

inclemency en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin inclēmentia. By surface analysis, inclemen(t) + -cy.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The quality of being inclement; lack of clemency.
2. (uncountable, usually) Something that is inclement.
   • There had been rain, squalls mingled with snow, hailstorms, gusts of wind, but these inclemencies did not last. 1874, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island:
   • The cry of the suffering and dying rings in our ears, as they are dragged from their beds, to be exposed to the inclemencies of the ice-covered sea in an open boat. 1922, Charles Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5:
   • with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather 1729, Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal:
   • They are built of rough sticks, covered with bulrushes or grass, in such a manner as to completely protect the inhabitants from all the inclemencies of the weather. 1849, Edwin Bryant, What I Saw in California:

Forms