noun

An end or conclusion.

The manner of shutting; the union of parts; junction.

(sales) The point at the end of a sales pitch when the consumer is asked to buy.

A grapple in wrestling.

(music) The conclusion of a strain of music; cadence.

(music) A double bar marking the end.

(aviation, travel) The time when check-in staff will no longer accept passengers for a flight.

(chiefly British) A street that ends in a dead end.

(Scotland) A very narrow alley between two buildings, often overhung by one of the buildings above the ground floor.

(Scotland) The common staircase in a tenement.

A cathedral close.

(law) The interest which one may have in a piece of ground, even though it is not enclosed

A surname.

(now rare, chiefly Yorkshire) An enclosed field, especially a field enclosed around a (usually religious) building.

verb

(physical) To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through.

(ambitransitive) To move a thing, or part of a thing, nearer to another so that the gap or opening between the two is removed.

(transitive) To obstruct or block.

(intransitive) To become denser or more crowded with objects.

(figuratively, transitive, intransitive) To make or become unreceptive.

(transitive, intransitive, engineering, gas and liquid flow, of valve or damper) To move to a position preventing fluid from flowing.

(transitive, intransitive, electricity, of a switch, fuse or circuit breaker) To move to a position allowing electricity to flow.

To grapple; to engage in close combat.

(transitive, intransitive, especially sports) To angle (a club, bat or other hitting implement) downwards and/or (for a right-hander) anticlockwise of straight.

To finish.

(transitive) To end or conclude.

(intransitive) To finish; to come to an end.

(ergative, marketing) To conclude (a sale).

(transitive) To perform as the final act at (a show etc.).

(transitive, baseball, pitching) To make the final outs, usually three, of a game.

(transitive, finance) To cancel or reverse (a trading position).

To make or become non-operational or unavailable for use.

(transitive) To put out of use or operation.

(intransitive) To cease operation or cease to be available.

(intransitive, of a business, market etc.) To cease trading for the day, or permanently.

(intransitive) To do the tasks (putting things away, locking doors, etc.) required to prepare a store or other establishment to shut down for the night.

(ergative, computing) To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.

(Philippines, Quebec, Greece, Cyprus) To turn off; to switch off.

(chiefly figurative) To come or gather around; to enclose.

(surveying) To have a vector sum of 0; that is, to form a closed polygon.

adjective

Having little difference or distance in place, position, or abstractly; see also close to.

At little distance; near in space or time.

Almost, but not quite (getting to an answer, goal, or other state); near.

(in particular) Almost resulting in disaster.

Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; almost exactly matching.

Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact or nearly so.

Intimate or immediate in personal relationship.

Involving a tight connection; involving frequent communication, shared or cooperative activity, etc.

Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc.

Tight, with little space separating components or elements.

Strictly confined; carefully guarded.

Tightly restricted in availability.

(law) Of a corporation or other business entity, closely held.

Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude.

(Ireland, UK, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.

Rigorous, careful, etc.

Attentive; undeviating; strict.

Carefully done, detailed.

Accurate; precise.

Short.

(linguistics, phonetics, of a vowel) Articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate.

(heraldry, of a bird) With its wings at its side, closed, held near to its body (typically also statant); (of wings) in this posture.

Marked, evident.

(dated) Difficult to obtain.

(dated) Parsimonious; stingy.

(archaic outside certain phrases) Physically narrow or confined.

(archaic) Dense; solid; compact.

(now rare) Closed, shut.

(obsolete) Out of the way of observation; secluded; secret; hidden.

(archaic) Concise; to the point.

adverb

In a close manner (limited contexts; more often closely).

So as to leave or create little distance or space between objects.

Carefully, in detail.

In combination (sometimes potentially ambiguous between adverb and adjective).

Roots

claudoclos- · Latin · close, shut

Synonyms for close

nearv shutv nighadv nearishadj closelyadv tightadj endn nearbyadj proximateadj finishv concludev confiningadj openadj closemouthedadj snugadj intimateadj

Synonyms & related words for close

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of close — including near, shut, nigh, nearish, closely, tight. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to close

Explore words related to close — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include closable, unclose, closest, closer, snuggled, squinched, closure, proximity. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for close

Common synonyms for close include near, shut, nigh, nearish, closely, tight, end, nearby — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does close come from?

The word close breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root clos-, from Latin claudo (“close, shut”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.