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 .)

Derived Forms

• ˈclausal, adjective

Other Words From

• clausal adjective
• sub·clausal adjective
• subclause 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

The family cannot disclose the amount they received due to a confidentiality clause.

From BBC

If we look back to everything from Citizens United and how we finance campaigns to how we think about corruption and how we vote and then, this past year, the court rewriting the insurrection clause, rewriting how we think about presidential immunity, rewriting how we think about Jan. 6 insurrectionists, it reveals a part of this story that I think you and I have been trying to tell for a long time, which is that the court is absolutely a player in the reimagining of democracy.

From Slate

Thomas wrote that the plaintiffs had offered “no defensible argument” that the appropriations clause requires more than a congressional law authorizing “the disbursement of specified funds for identified purposes,” as was the funding for the CFPB.

From Los Angeles Times

“If that were the case, if embryos and fetuses had constitutional rights under the due process clause, states would be required to ban abortion,” she told Salon.

From Salon

But the clause restricting his postings elsewhere does not apply to Trump’s explicitly political messaging.

From Slate

Related Words

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