clause

See also: Clause

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

clause

Wikipedia

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /klɔːz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /klɔz/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /klɑz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: claws
• Rhymes: -ɔːz

Noun

clause (plural clauses)

(grammar) A group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

Usage notes

• In “When it got dark, they went back into the house”, “When it got dark” is a dependent clause within the complete sentence. The independent clause “they went back into the house” could stand alone as a sentence, whereas the dependent clause could not.