clause
clause \'klo.z\ n [ME, fr. OF, clause, fr. ML clausa close of a rhetorical period, fr. L fe]m. of clausus, pp. of claudere to close 1: a separate section of a discourse or writing; specif : a distinc t article in a formal document 2: a group of words containing a subject and predicate and functioning as a member of a complex or compound sentence