Clerkly

adj, adv

adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of clerks; befitting a clerk.

    "the clerkly life"

  2. 2
    Scholarly. obsolete

    "For notwithstanding al your great brags and this your clerkly booke, ye knowe not nor euer shall knowe, but that the Pope is the supreame head of the Churche."

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a scholarly manner. obsolete

    "If these woordis to some seme spoken to clerkly, goe to, I will expounde theim more plainely."

Synonyms

All synonyms
clerkishclerkishclerky

Example

More examples

"Therefore, desiring to keep my place in the young Tsar’s regard, I did not speak too highly of Mazeppa, though I allowed him to be a shrewd and capable person, of clerkly rather than military attainments."

Etymology

From clerk + -ly.

Related phrases

clerkly script

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.