independent clause


noun
  1. grammar a main or coordinate clause: Compare dependent clause

Words Nearby independent clause

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use independent clause in a sentence

  • And last, if it deserves such a distinction, the thought may demand an independent clause or a sentence for itself.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • There is no independent clause or sentence which prohibits the States from exercising it.

    The Federalist Papers | Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
  • Subordinate, joining a subordinate or dependent clause to a principal or independent clause.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • A principal, main, or independent clause is one making a statement without the help of any other clause.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • The complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause.

    Public Speaking | Clarence Stratton

Cultural definitions for independent clause

independent clause

A clause that can stand alone as a sentence. The following sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by but: “The farmers complained of the low price of food, but the office workers did not complain.” (Compare dependent clause.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.