Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Grammar A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence.
- n. A distinct article, stipulation, or provision in a document.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Any part of a written composition, especially one containing complete sense in itself, as a sentence or paragraph: in modern use commonly limited to such parts of legal documents, as of statutes, contracts, wills, etc. In law, the usual meaning is some collocation of words the removal of which from the instrument will leave the rest of it intelligible. It is not essential to the idea of a clause that it must itself be capable of being read as a document if taken alone.
- n. A distinct stipulation, condition, proviso, etc.: as, a special clause in a contract.
- n. In grammar, one of the lesser sentences which united and modified form a compound or complex sentence. A clause differs from a phrase in containing both a subject and its predicate, while a phrase is a group of two or more words not containing both these essential elements of a simple sentence. The principal clause is that member of a complex sentence on which others, called
dependent or subordinate clauses, depend. The members of a compound sentence are coordinate clauses. Principal and coördinate clauses separated from the remainder of the sentence can by omission of connectives (conjunctions or relatives), and addition, if necessary, of words from other clauses, resume the form of simple sentences. Dependent clauses often require further changes of mood, tense, and person to become independent sentences. - n. That part of a bond which defines the amount of the penalty.
Wiktionary
- n. this sense?) (grammar, informal) A group of two or more words which include a subject and any necessary predicate (the predicate also includes a verb, conjunction, or a preposition) to begin the clause; however, this clause is not considered a sentence for colloquial purposes.
- n. grammar 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 (subordinate) dependent.
- n. law A separate part of a contract, a will or another legal document.
- v. transitive, shipping To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A separate portion of a written paper, paragraph, or sentence; an article, stipulation, or proviso, in a legal document.
- n. (Gram.) A subordinate portion or a subdivision of a sentence containing a subject and its predicate.
- n. See Letters clause or Letters close, under letter.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence
- n. a separate section of a legal document (as a statute or contract or will)
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Medieval Latin clausa ("a clause") (Latin diminutive clausula ("a clause, close of a period")), from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere ("to shut, close"); see close. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin clausa, close of a rhetorical period, from feminine of Latin clausus, past participle of claudere, to close. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“By claiming power under the coinage clause, Mr. Bernanke was behaving a bit like Secretary of State Alexander Haig when, after President Ronald Reagan was shot, he suggested, albeit fleetingly, that he had the constitutional authority of the president.”
“This clause is the PJ's protection against being involved in a libel suit because someone on the copy desk decided to be "cute" with the caption.”
“This clause is the only mention the Constitution makes of Presidential war powers.”
“Some people in the Debian community think that this clause is at odds with the Debian Free Software Guidelines.”
“The prophets could but proclaim liberty, but Christ, as one having authority, as one that had power on earth to forgive sins, came to set at liberty; and therefore this clause is added here.”
“The MAC clause was nothing to trifle with; a slew of lawsuits by Merrill Lynch and its shareholders would almost certainly follow, and prevailing in court after invoking a MAC clause is exceedingly difficult.”
“A world in which every law can be neatly and concisely written, and its legal basis cited in the Constitution (provided you ignore Article I, Section 8, because the elastic clause is clearly for losers and the framers didn't intend for it to mean what it says, even though they wrote it that way).”
“My point being that the clause is pretty much un-enforcable.”
McGinn Says He’ll Veto Tunnel Agreement; Council President Says Mayor is “Grandstanding” « PubliCola
“Because the pound of flesh clause is not legally enforceable.”
“This Viaduct issue was solved with the previous administration besides the cost overrun clause is almost impossible to enforce.”
McGinn Says He’ll Veto Tunnel Agreement; Council President Says Mayor is “Grandstanding” « PubliCola
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘clause’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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Language
word, sentence, novel, book, novella, vignette, memoir, anthology, paragraph, stanza, poem, haiku and 123 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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POL - legislation
US Congress/Senate + Westminster + European Parliament usage
across the desk, act, action, adjournment, adjournment sine die, adoption, advise and consent, amendment, analysis of the b..., apportionment, appropriation, appropriations limit and 652 more...
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Rhetorical Devices
trope, wellerism, antimetabole, syncope, open-list, accismus, abating, abbaser, abecedarian, abcisio, ablatio, abominatio and 425 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...health, follow, condition, meeting, minister, beginning, chapter, information, language, remain, covered, respect and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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EU Buzz - 100 most active collocation...
The 100 most frequent constituents of EU collocations. People working for the EU are able to complete any of these words to a multiple-word expression with ease. Try it out if you are one! For a gr...
accession, acquis, act, action, agenda, agreement, aid, area, assistance, association, base, budget and 88 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Random Words
lochia, confused, innoxious, naive, cockatrice, derisive, parsley, passive, casual, football, innuendo, Rumanian and 172 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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ESL Academic Word List
This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are...
collapse, depression, colleagues, invoked, levy, nonetheless, likewise, so-called, ongoing, conceived, forthcoming, integrity and 558 more...
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Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
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English grammar
terms relevant to English grammar
phrase, clause, sentence, complement, modifier, adjunct, specifier, constituent, syntax, bar level, supplement, coordination and 285 more...
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