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inclemency

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin inclēmentia.[1] By surface analysis, inclemen(t) +‎ -cy.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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inclemency (usually uncountable, plural inclemencies)

  1. The quality of being inclement; lack of clemency.
  2. Something that is inclement.
    • 1729, Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal:
      with neither house nor clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather
    • 1849, Edwin Bryant, What I Saw in California[1]:
      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.
    • 1874, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island[2]:
      There had been rain, squalls mingled with snow, hailstorms, gusts of wind, but these inclemencies did not last.
    • 1922, Charles Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5[3]:
      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.

References

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  1. ^ inclemency, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.