clause
/klɔːz/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/kloːz/
clause noun: a group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance.
Noun
clause (plural clauses)
- A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance.
- Near-synonyms: sentential, sentence
- Synonyms:
- sentential, sentence
- A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.
- A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is dependent (subordinate). (Independent clauses can be sentences; they can also be part of a sentence. Dependent clauses can only be part of a sentence.)
- However, Coordination facts seem to undermine this hasty conclusion: thus, consider the following:
(43) [Your sister could go to College], but [would she get a degree?]
The second (italicised) conjunct is a Clause containing an inverted Auxiliary, would. Given our earlier assumptions that inverted...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 300
- However, Coordination facts seem to undermine this hasty conclusion: thus, consider the following:
- A distinct part of a contract, a will or another legal document.
- Mr. Waller adds that when the railway was authorised in 1897, one of the clauses of the Act authorising the transfer of the line to the North British Railway provided that that company should work it in perpetuity, and it was this clause that caused the interim interdict to be granted.1951 April, “Notes and News: North Fife Line, Scotland”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 281
- A constituent (component) of a statement or query.
Verb
clause (third-person singular simple present clauses, present participle clausing, simple past and past participle claused)
- To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).
- The question of clausing the bills of lading, so as to avoid "dirtying", which impairs its negotiability, may also be looked into1970, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, Report of the session, number 11
- Any attempt to clause a Bill of Lading will be strenuously resisted by shippers, and they will obtain clean bills in the usual ways1978, Samir Mankabady, The Hamburg rules on the carriage of goods by sea, page 215
Proper noun capitalized: Clause
Clause (plural Clauses)
- A surname.
clause meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
clause in Hindi
- clause, section
- दफ़ा dafā
- clause
- अनुच्छेद anucched
clause in Tamil
- உட்கூறு, உட்பிரிவு, கூறு, வகைமுறை, கிளவியம், சரத்து
clause in Marathi
- clause, section; a distinct header
- कलम kalam
- clause
- मुद्दा muddā
clause in Urdu
- clause
- واکیہ vākya
- a clause or section of a document
- دفعہ daf'a
More languagesFewer languages
- clause in Bengali
- ধারা dhara
- clause in Telugu
- క్లాజ్
- clause in Malayalam
- ഉടമ്പടി, നിയമവകുപ്പിൻറെ വിഭാഗം
- clause in Kannada
- ಕಿರುಸೊಲ್ಲು, ಕಲಂ, ಷರತ್ತು, ಅಧಿನಿಯಮ
- clause in Punjabi
- ਕਲਾਜ਼
- clause in Gujarati
- કલમ
- clause in Sanskrit
- खण्ड khaṇḍa
- clause in Tagalog
- sugnay
- clause in Arabic
- مُرَكَّبٌ إِسْنَادِيّ murakkabun ʔisnādiyy, جُمْلَة jumla, بَنْد band
- clause in Persian
- فراکرد farākard
- clause in Vietnamese
- vế câu, mệnh đề, điều khoản, điều
Examples of clause in a sentence
- The estate passes by the third clause in Mr Smith's deed to his son.
- The tax increase legislation included a sunset clause requiring renewal to prevent the tax increase from expiring.
- Grammarians are agreed that contact clauses are a paratactic construction of two independent clauses.
Synonyms of clause
Forms of clause
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | clauses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | clauses |
| present participle | clausing |
| past participle | claused |
| past | claused |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Clauses |
Origin of clause
From Middle English clause, claus, borrowed from Old French clause, from Medieval Latin clausa (Latin diminutive clausula (“close, end; a clause, close of a period”)), from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere (“to shut, close”). See close, its doublet.
Words formed from clause
- acceleration clause
- adjectival clause
- attestation clause
- attributive clause
- break clause
- choice of forum clause
- clausehood
- clauselike
- cognovit clause
- conscience clause
- definite clause
- derogatory clause
- escalator clause
- escape clause
- essential clause
- establishment clause
- exit clause
- final clause
- forum clause
- forum selection clause
- free-exercise clause
- get-out clause
- grandfather clause
- guillotine clause
- Henry VIII clause
- Horn clause
- in terrorem clause
- jurisdiction clause
- matrix clause
- Mother Hubbard clause
- multiclause
- negative clause
- no-contest clause
- no-trade clause
- notwithstanding clause
- objective clause
- objects clause
- operative clause
- pedigree clause
- residuary clause
- salvo clause
- semiclause
- small clause
- spendthrift clause
- subject clause
- sunrise clause
- sunset clause
- supplementive clause
- testing clause
- that clause
- time clause
- weasel clause
- 3-clause
- clausal
- clause element
- clause function
- content clause
- subclause
Phrases with clause
- if clause
- gold clause
- hush clause
- main clause
- noun clause
- vice clause
- place clause
- Santa Clause
- finite clause
- manner clause
- object clause
- result clause
34 more phrasesFewer phrases
- safety clause
- bad boy clause
- comment clause
- nominal clause
- purpose clause
- Commerce Clause
- distance clause
- embedded clause
- relative clause
- verbless clause
- adjective clause
- adverbial clause
- dependent clause
- frequency clause
- nonfinite clause
- appositive clause
- concessive clause
- coordinate clause
- noncompete clause
- comparative clause
- conditional clause
- independent clause
- restrictive clause
- subordinate clause
- Free Exercise Clause
- superordinate clause
- Dormant Commerce Clause
- defining relative clause
- Negative Commerce Clause
- integrated relative clause
- restrictive relative clause
- non-defining relative clause
- supplementary relative clause
- non-restrictive relative clause
Words that rhyme with clause
Questions about clause
- What does clause mean?
- Clause means a group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance.
- What is clause in Hindi?
- Clause in Hindi is दफ़ा (dafā), अनुच्छेद (anucched). See Clause meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is clause?
- Clause can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce clause?
- Clause is pronounced /klɔːz/ (UK).
- What is the plural of clause?
- The plural of clause is clauses.
Words near clause in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clause (page history and authors); Clause (page history and authors); अनुच्छेद (Hindi) (page history and authors); clause (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कलम (Marathi) (page history and authors); دفعہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); ধারা (Bengali) (page history and authors); clause (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clause (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clause (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clause (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clause (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); खण्ड (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pause.wav, en-us-clause.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clause.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clause. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.