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clause.

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.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/klɔːz/Received-Pronunciation/kloːz/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/klɔz//klɑz/cot-caught-merger

  1. 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.

  2. A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.

  3. 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.)

  4. A distinct part of a contract, a will or another legal document.

  5. A constituent (component) of a statement or query.

Where this word comes from

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.

verb/klɔːz/Received-Pronunciation/kloːz/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/klɔz//klɑz/cot-caught-merger

  1. To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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clause studioclause workshello, clause

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.