Clause Dictionary Definitions

The etymology of clause goes back to the Latin word clausŭla, which derives from clausus (a term that can be translated as “closed”). The clauses are the provisions that are part of a will, contract or other type of document.

For example: “We have not yet signed the strategic agreement since there is a clause that does not convince me”, “The contract signed by the Uruguayan player includes a clause that prevents him from playing against his former team”, “The government is studying the clauses of the treaty of free trade “.

A penalty clause is called a guarantee that is included in certain contracts. Through this clause it is agreed that, if one of the parties does not comply with the contract, it must pay compensation to the other.

An abusive clause is one incorporated into a contract by imposition of one of the parties, without negotiation and causing an imbalance in the obligations and rights of each one.

The idea of ​​a barrier clause appears in the field of politics to refer to the minimum number of votes that an electoral list must obtain to access representation in the legislature or in another body.

In the field of grammar and rhetoric, on the other hand, a clause is called the series of words that, in a single sentence or in several that are closely linked, can express a judgment with syntactic autonomy and complete meaning.

In other words, the linguistic clause is the smallest portion of speech capable of conveying the entire idea independently, even out of context. It is the smallest independent syntactic constituent (that is, one or more words that act as a unit in a hierarchical structure) with the ability to express a sentence with complete meaning.

The music gives this term the meaning of a short piece that was used in medieval music and consisted of adding an interval to the voice of the Gregorian chant, either fourth, fifth or eighth, provided there is at least one pair of voices in opposite way.

In the musical clause, a superior voice was added to the tenor’s voice that complemented it through the use of melismas, that is, a minimum of twelve notes for each syllable of text. The composition of these parts requires an increase in speed and the writing of short-lived rhythmic designs that are repeated throughout the clause. When the top line has a speed considerably greater than that of the tenor and it counterpoints it, it is called “discanto”.

At the beginning of the 13th century, there was an enrichment of the cadence and the clause was used above all in the so-called Notre Dame School, a group of musicians dedicated to working in the homonymous cathedral, in Paris, as well as in its vicinity since the end from the twelfth century to the middle of the thirteenth.

For logic, clauses are expressions made up of a finite series of formulas known as literals, which are true when at least one literal is true.

After the Civil War, several amendments to the Constitution of the United States took place; Among them is the Fourteenth, within which we can find the Equal Protection Clause, which protects people against the denial of their rights, on the basis of the equality of all citizens.

It is known as the Butterfly Clause to a contract model that has a single clause, which guarantees the right of software developers to effectively oppose the States to take advantage of their creations to violate Human Rights.

Clause