📖 C — The English dictionary · page 38

clergy — Everyday, meaning 1: The priests, ministers, vicars, rabbis, imams and other religious leaders of a religion, as a group.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Members of the clergy: people whose job is to lead worship and look after a religious community.↗ Example: The clergy led the service at the cathedral.↗ · In the Middle Ages the clergy could often read and write when most people could not.↗ · Members of the clergy visited the hospital.↗ · The vicar is a member of the clergy.↗ · The clergy of several faiths met to talk about peace.↗ · A single priest is a clergyman or clergywoman.↗

clergyman — Everyday, meaning 1: A man who leads religious services, such as a priest, minister, vicar or rabbi.↗ Example: The clergyman led the wedding service.↗ · A clergyman visited the sick in hospital.↗ · In the story, the clergyman knew every family in the village.↗ · The clergyman rang the church bell.↗ · My great-uncle was a clergyman in Ireland.↗ · The clergyman spoke kindly at the funeral.↗ · The old clergyman, too, did not come back.↗

cleric — Everyday, meaning 1: A cleric is a religious leader, such as a priest, minister, rabbi or imam.↗ Example: A senior cleric led the prayers.↗ · The cleric spoke about peace.↗ · Clerics from many religions met together.↗ · In the game, my cleric heals the team.↗ · The old cleric lived next to the church.↗ · Religious clerics wear special clothes.↗ · The cleric nodded with savage emphasis.↗

clerical — Everyday, meaning 1: To do with office work, such as typing, filing and keeping records (a clerical job, a clerical error).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (church) To do with the clergy — priests, vicars, ministers — and their work (a clerical collar).↗ Example: Mum does clerical work at the hospital.↗ · The wrong date was just a clerical error.↗ · The vicar wore a clerical collar.↗ · A clerical mistake sent the parcel to the wrong house.↗ · The school office needs a new clerical assistant.↗ · Clerical robes are worn by priests during services.↗ · The principal person in the procession was a clerical-looking gentleman.↗

clerk — Everyday, meaning 1: A clerk is a person whose job is keeping records, filing and writing in an office.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (US, Canada) A clerk is a shop assistant who serves customers.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A clerk is an official in charge of records for a court, council or school (school clerk).↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In old times, a clerk could also be a servant in charge of a part of a great house, such as the kitchen.↗ Example: The clerk stamped the letter.↗ · Ask the clerk at the desk for a key.↗ · The store clerk gave me my change.↗ · A bank clerk counted the money.↗ · The school clerk keeps the records.↗ · The clerk sorted 120 letters into 4 piles of 30.↗ · The town clerk wrote down the votes.↗ · She works as a clerk in an office.↗ · “Ah! madam,” cried the clerk of the kitchen.↗

clever — Everyday, meaning 1: Clever means quick to learn and understand things.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Clever means skilful at doing something, like clever with your hands.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A clever idea or plan is smart and works well.↗ Example: She's very clever at maths.↗ · What a clever idea!↗ · The clever fox tricked the crow.↗ · He is clever with his hands and builds models.↗ · Crows are clever birds that can use tools.↗ · That's a clever way to solve the puzzle.↗ · "What a clever creature!" thinks he.↗

cleverly — Everyday, meaning 1: Cleverly means in a smart, clever way, using good thinking or skill.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Cleverly can also mean in a tricky or cunning way, to fool someone.↗ Example: The fox cleverly tricked the crow into dropping the cheese.↗ · She cleverly solved the puzzle in a minute.↗ · The treasure was cleverly hidden behind a loose brick.↗ · The bag is cleverly designed to fold into a pocket.↗ · He cleverly added 99 by adding 100 and taking away 1.↗ · The detective cleverly noticed the muddy boots.↗ · The children cleverly built a bridge from straws.↗ · "That was very cleverly done," observed the Princess.↗

cleverness — Everyday, meaning 1: Cleverness is being clever: being quick to learn, understand and think of good ideas.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Cleverness can also mean being tricky or cunning.↗ Example: The mouse escaped from the cat through cleverness.↗ · Everyone admired the cleverness of her idea.↗ · His cleverness helped the team win the quiz.↗ · Cleverness is useful, but kindness matters more.↗ · The cleverness of the trick surprised us all.↗ · In fairy tales, the youngest child often wins by cleverness.↗ · And he sat and scratched his head, and thought about his own cleverness.↗

clew — Everyday, meaning 1: (sailing) The lower back corner of a sail, where a rope is attached.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old-fashioned) A ball of thread or yarn.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (old spelling) An old way of writing «clue».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (verb, sailing) «Clew up» means to pull up a sail by its corners.↗ Example: The sailor tied the rope to the clew of the sail.↗ · Ariadne gave Theseus a clew of thread to find his way out.↗ · The word «clue» comes from «clew», a ball of thread.↗ · Pull the clew tight to trim the sail.↗ · The three corners of a sail are the head, the tack and the clew.↗ · The old book spelled «clue» as «clew».↗ · You need only hold the end of the thread, and the clew will run on before and show you the way.↗

click — Everyday, meaning 1: A click is a short, sharp sound, like a door shutting or fingers snapping.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To click on something on a computer is to press the mouse button or tap to choose it.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To click is to make a short sharp sound.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: If something clicks, you suddenly understand it.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: If two people click, they like each other quickly.↗ Example: Click on the picture to make it bigger.↗ · I heard a click as the door locked.↗ · Make sure your seatbelt clicks.↗ · Don't click on links from strangers.↗ · Suddenly the maths clicked and I understood.↗ · The two girls clicked straight away.↗ · Double-click the icon to open the game.↗ · But the bullocks only clicked their horns together and went on chewing.↗

client — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who pays for help or advice from a professional, such as a lawyer, builder or hairdresser: the lawyer's client.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A customer of a shop or business (formal).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (computing) A program or computer that gets services or files from another computer called a server.↗ Example: The lawyer met her client in the office.↗ · Mum's hairdressing business has 30 regular clients.↗ · A dog walker charges each client 10 dollars, so 6 clients pay 60 dollars.↗ · (formal) Clients are asked to arrive on time.↗ · Your web browser is a client that asks the server for pages.↗ · The builder showed the client the plans.↗ · Counsel for the Wasps immediately insisted that this description fitted his clients exactly.↗

cliff — Everyday, meaning 1: A cliff is a high, steep wall of rock or earth, often at the edge of the sea.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A cliffhanger is a story or episode that ends at an exciting moment so you want to know what happens next.↗ Example: The White Cliffs of Dover are made of chalk.↗ · Stay away from the edge of the cliff.↗ · Seabirds nest on the cliffs.↗ · We walked along the cliff path.↗ · The waves crash against the cliffs.↗ · The book ended on a cliffhanger.↗ · The cliff edge was crumbling, so they put up a fence.↗ · The Goat looked over the edge of the cliff.↗ · O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.'↗ (Writings SNG.2.14, JPS 1917)↗

cliffhanger — Everyday, meaning 1: A cliffhanger is an exciting ending to a chapter or episode that leaves you not knowing what will happen next, so you want to read or watch more.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A cliffhanger is also any contest or situation where the result stays uncertain until the very end.↗ Example: The chapter ended on a cliffhanger.↗ · I couldn't stop reading because of the cliffhangers.↗ · The match was a real cliffhanger until the final whistle.↗ · Write a cliffhanger to end your story's middle part.↗ · The TV series always ends with a cliffhanger.↗

climate — Everyday, meaning 1: The climate of a place is its usual weather over many years, such as hot and dry or cold and wet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Climate change means the Earth's climate is slowly changing, mostly getting warmer, largely because of gases people release by burning fuel.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The climate of a group is its general mood: a friendly climate in class.↗ Example: The climate in the desert is hot and dry.↗ · Ireland has a mild, wet climate.↗ · Polar bears live in a very cold climate.↗ · Climate change is melting the ice at the poles.↗ · Bananas grow in a tropical climate.↗ · Weather changes every day, but climate changes slowly.↗ · Canada has a cold climate in the north.↗ · There was a happy climate in our classroom.↗ · The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful.↗ · He caused the letter Aleph to reign in Air and crowned it, and combining it with the others He sealed it, as Air in the World, as the temperate (climate) of the Year, and as the chest (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

climatic — Everyday, meaning 1: (science, geography) To do with climate — the usual weather of a place over many years (climatic zones, climatic change).↗ Example: Penguins are adapted to cold climatic conditions.↗ · The map showed the Earth's climatic zones.↗ · Rainforests need warm, wet climatic conditions.↗ · Scientists study climatic changes over thousands of years.↗ · Different climatic regions grow different crops.↗ · The Ice Age was a time of great climatic cooling.↗

climax — Everyday, meaning 1: The most exciting, important or tense moment of a story, film, event or piece of music, usually near the end.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The highest point of something that has been building up (the climax of the season).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (verb) To reach that most exciting point.↗ Example: In the climax of the story, the hero faces the dragon.↗ · Our story plan had five parts, with the climax in the middle of the mountain.↗ · The fireworks were the climax of the festival.↗ · The music builds to a loud climax.↗ · The match reached its climax in the last minute.↗ · The film climaxes with a chase across the rooftops.↗ · Plan your climax before you write the ending.↗

climb — Everyday, meaning 1: To climb is to go up something, like stairs, a tree, a ladder or a mountain, often using hands and feet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To climb is also to go up in amount, like prices or temperatures climbing.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A climb is a trip up or a hard way up.↗ Example: A snail climbs 3 feet each day and slides back 1.↗ · She climbed 120 steps.↗ · He climbs 500 meters in an hour.↗ · How high did they climb?↗ · The cat climbed up the tree.↗ · We climbed the hill to see the view.↗ · Ivy climbs up the wall.↗ · The temperature climbed to 30 degrees.↗ · Climb down the ladder slowly.↗ · Now he climbed the tree unhindered.↗ · They leap upon the city, they run upon the wall, they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief.↗ (Prophets JOL.2.9, JPS 1917)↗ · Though they dig into the nether-world, thence shall My hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.↗ (Prophets AMO.9.2, JPS 1917)↗ · And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armour-bearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan; and his armour-bearer slew them after him.↗ (Prophets 1SA.14.13, JPS 1917)↗

climber — Everyday, meaning 1: A climber is a person who climbs, such as mountains, rocks or climbing walls.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A climber is a plant that grows up walls, fences or other plants, like ivy.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A climbing frame or a person who climbs well can also be called a climber.↗ Example: The climbers reached the top of the mountain.↗ · My sister is a great climber on the climbing wall.↗ · Every climber must wear a helmet.↗ · Ivy is a climber that grows up walls.↗ · We planted a climber by the fence.↗ · Cats are good climbers.↗ · The climbers were roped together for safety.↗ · Monkeys are excellent climbers.↗ · And, having thought of the experiment, he at once resolved to carry it out, for Jack was a good climber.↗

clime — Everyday, meaning 1: An old or poetic word for a country, region or climate: warmer climes.↗ Example: The swallows fly south to warmer climes in winter.↗ · The parson was of another age and clime.↗

cling — Everyday, meaning 1: To cling to something is to hold on to it very tightly.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To cling means to stick closely to something or someone (wet clothes cling to your body).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To cling to an idea or hope is to keep believing it even when it is hard.↗ Example: The baby monkey clung to its mother's back.↗ · The cat clung to the branch with its claws.↗ · My wet T-shirt clung to me after the rain.↗ · Hold on and cling to the rope!↗ · The little boy clung to his dad on the first day of school.↗ · She clung to the hope that her lost dog would come home.↗ · We covered the bowl with cling film.↗ · A sock was clinging to my jumper when it came out of the dryer.↗ · She could see the men clinging to the masts.↗

clingy — Everyday, meaning 1: (of a person or pet) Always wanting to be close to someone and not wanting to be left alone: a clingy toddler.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of clothes or material) Sticking closely to the body or to things: a clingy T-shirt, clingy plastic wrap.↗ Example: The puppy was clingy and followed me everywhere.↗ · My little brother is clingy on his first day at nursery.↗ · Don't be so clingy — let her play with others too.↗ · The wet T-shirt was clingy.↗ · Cling film is clingy plastic for wrapping food.↗ · The kitten got clingy when we packed our suitcases.↗