grandfather clause

1. 1.

   an exemption based on circumstances existing prior to the adoption of some policy; used to enfranchise illiterate whites in south after the American Civil War

   Broaderexemption

Questions about grandfather clause

What does grandfather clause mean?

grandfather clause means "an exemption based on circumstances existing prior to the adoption of some policy; used to enfranchise illiterate whites in south after the American Civil War".

Is grandfather clause a common word?

grandfather clause is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.