English Lexicon

Subordinate clause

/səˈbɔː.dɪ.nət klɔːz/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #4500 frequency
Full Thesaurus

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A clause that depends on the main clause of a sentence for its meaning and cannot stand alone as a complete grammatical sentence.

    "In the sentence 'She left because she was tired,' the phrase 'because she was tired' is a subordinate clause."
  2. 2

    A dependent clause functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb within a larger syntactic structure.

    "The teacher explained how a relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Medieval Latin 'subordinatus' (placed in a lower order, from sub- 'beneath' + ordinare 'to order') combined with 'clause' from Old French 'clause', originating from Latin 'clausa' (an enclosure or ending of a sentence). The grammatical usage developed in the 19th century to describe dependent clauses within complex sentences.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Subordinate clause"?

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Subordinate clause"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Subordinate clause" Synonym Map