clause

American  

[klawz] / klɔz /

noun

• clauses
  plural

1. Grammar. a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence.

2. a distinct article or provision in a contract, treaty, will, or other formal or legal written document.

---

clause British  

/ klɔːz /

noun

1. grammar a group of words, consisting of a subject and a predicate including a finite verb, that does not necessarily constitute a sentence See also main clause subordinate clause coordinate clause

2. a section of a legal document such as a contract, will, or draft statute

---

clause Cultural  

1. A group of words in a sentence that contains a subject and predicate. (See dependent clause and independent clause.)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subclause
  noun
• clausal
  adjective
• subclausal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clauses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clause

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English claus(e), from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin clausa, back formation from Latin clausula clausula

Explanation

A clause is a group of words with a subject and verb. That kind of clause is handy when talking about grammar. Another kind of clause is a provision or stipulation in a legal contract. Clause is a noun that comes from the old French clause, which, if we trace it way back, comes from the Latin clausula, “the end, a closing termination.” Around 1300, the “ending” implication of the word began to fade and was replaced by “article or section of a text.” In the grammatical sense, every sentence must have at least one independent clause. And in the legal sense, documents like prenuptial agreements or job contract often contain clauses.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clause clauses

With no rehydration clause, he looked strikingly bigger in the ring and had posted footage on Friday evening suggesting he was 32lb heavier than at the official weigh-in, although the figure was not independently verified.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

OpenAI previously had an agreement with Microsoft, one of its earliest and largest investors, under which an exclusivity clause would end once OpenAI reached AGI.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The 14th Amendment says that the citizenship clause applies to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.”

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

The capital at Brighthouse’s captive reinsurance unit “looks low relative to investment risk,” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts wrote in June, adding the clause about potential changes contributes to the deal’s “above average risk.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

And when the subject of the main clause is the dummy element it or there, the reader glides right over it, and it poses no danger of attracting a dangler.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

The producers argued that “most favored nations” clauses in their contracts entitled them to the same terms Darabont received.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

But that contract has performance clauses, and if Red Bull are still struggling next year, it may well be that McLaren have another go for Verstappen.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

In practice, these clauses don’t capture the complexity of surrogacy dynamics.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

Additionally, many of these contracts contain conditional requirements or cancellation clauses in case build-outs stall.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

The same rule creates relative clauses that begin with a preposition and a wh-word such as the better with which to see you or It’s you of whom she’s thinking.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• article
• paragraph
• passage
• provision
• requirement
• section
• specification
• stipulation