clause

[klawz]

noun

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

/ 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

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

Other Word Forms

• clausal adjective
• subclausal adjective
• subclause noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of clause¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of clause¹

C13: from Old French, from Medieval Latin clausa a closing (of a rhetorical period), back formation from Latin clausula, from claudere to close

Example Sentences

Harvard that such policies violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Only once did this document refer to “citizens,” and that one clause failed to define the term.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Tyler Coward, a government affairs attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which defends free speech, said he found that clause troubling.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The parents whose behavior was so crass that Los Angeles school consultant Sandy Eiges added a clause in her contract stating that the use of profanity could terminate their working relationship.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The company's contracts with the government run until 2029 but there is a break clause next year, which Kohler said the government should consider using as it is "not getting value for money".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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