Meaning & use
grandfather clause
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Meanings
nouncountablelaw
A rule that lets people or businesses already doing something keep doing it after a new law forbids it for others.
Grammar: Often a part of a law: the new rule includes a grandfather clause.
Patterns
- a grandfather clause for something
A grandfather clause let existing restaurants keep their smoking rooms.
Owners of the old guns were protected by a grandfather clause.
Because of a grandfather clause, current drivers do not need the new license.
nouncountablespecialist
A rule once used in the southern United States that denied Black citizens the vote while letting white voters off tests.
Grammar: A historical term describing unfair laws.
Courts struck down the grandfather clause as unconstitutional in 1915.
Historians describe how the grandfather clause kept many citizens from voting.
Word forms
| plural | grandfather clauses |
|---|
Common combinations
- include a grandfather clause
- The bill includes a grandfather clause for older buildings.
- under a grandfather clause
- The shop can keep operating under a grandfather clause.
- be covered by a grandfather clause
- Existing members are covered by a grandfather clause.
- add a grandfather clause
- Lawmakers added a grandfather clause to protect current owners.
- strike down a grandfather clause
- The court struck down the grandfather clause.
Synonyms and how they differ
- exemption
- An exemption frees anyone from a rule for any reason, while a grandfather clause protects those who were already doing the thing.
- loophole
- A loophole is an accidental gap people exploit, whereas a grandfather clause is deliberately written in.
- exception
- Exception is a general word for anything not covered, but it does not imply past practice.
Word family
- grandfather verb
- to exempt existing people or things from a new rule
- grandfathered adjective
- covered by an exemption from a new rule
- grandfathering noun
- the practice of exempting existing cases from a new rule
Practice
The new building code applies to new houses, but older houses are protected by a ___.
Choose one answer.
A grandfather clause exempts things already existing. A penalty clause sets punishments, and a loophole is an unintended gap.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “grandfather clause”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.