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subordinate clause

American  

noun

Grammar.

  1. a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.

subordinate clause British  

noun

  1. grammar a clause with an adjectival, adverbial, or nominal function, rather than one that functions as a separate sentence in its own right Compare coordinate clause main 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

Example Sentences

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Subordinate clause, 257. adjective, 260. adverb, 262. definition of, 257. how to distinguish, 270. kinds of, 257. noun, 258. other names for, 257.

From An English Grammar by Sewell, James Witt

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.