'Sectoral' vs 'Sectorial' — which is correct or, if in case that they're both correct, what is the distinction between them?
Context - Sectoral/Sectorial Regulator for e.g., FDA is the sectoral regulator for approval of drugs in the US.
From a bare perusal of the common dictionaries I'm unable to make any distinction between them.
They are both pretty rare words, and through lack of use the inconsistency in forming the adjective has not been resolved.
Both words are used in this sense. You can choose whichever works best. I would suggest using "sectorial" for the anatomical sense, and "sectoral" for the sense in the example. Or duck the issue by writing "regulator of the sector"
Google ngrams suggests "sectoral" is more common.
Sectoral is far more common than sectorial, which doesn't occur often enough to even show on this usage chart. But most people use the bare "noun adjunct" form sector for the cited context anyway, and that's what I'd recommend...
