Clause of a Boolean formula (${\ell }_1\vee \cdots \vee {\ell }_k$)

A clause is an expression ${\ell }_1\vee \cdots \vee {\ell }_k$ formed from Boolean literals, true when at least one literal is true. The empty clause is false. Repeating a literal does not change the truth value. A conjunctive normal form formula is a conjunction of these clauses.