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Synonyms

closed

American  
[klohzd] / kloʊzd /

adjective

  1. having or forming a boundary or barrier.

    He was blocked by a closed door.

    The house had a closed porch.

  2. brought to a close; concluded.

    It was a closed incident with no repercussions.

  3. not public; restricted; exclusive.

    a closed meeting;

    a closed bid at a private auction.

  4. not open to new ideas or arguments.

  5. self-contained; independent or self-sufficient.

    a closed, symbiotic relationship.

  6. Phonetics. (of a syllable) ending with a consonant or a consonant cluster, as has, hasp.

  7. Linguistics. (of a class of items) limited in membership and not readily expanded to include new items, as the class of inflectional affixes, articles, pronouns, or auxiliaries (open, ).

  8. Hunting, Angling. restricted as to the kind of game that may be legally taken and as to where or when it may be taken.

    woods closed to deer hunters.

  9. Mathematics.

    1. (of a set in which a combining operation between members of the set is defined) such that performing the operation between members of the set produces a member of the set, as multiplication in the set of integers.

    2. (of an interval) containing both of its endpoints.

    3. (of a map from one topological space to another) having the property that the image of a closed set is a closed set.

    4. (of a curve) not having endpoints; enclosing an area.

    5. (of a surface) enclosing a volume.

    6. (of a function or operator) having as its graph a closed set.


closed British  
/ kləʊzd /

adjective

  1. blocked against entry; shut

  2. restricted; exclusive

  3. not open to question or debate

  4. (of a hunting season, etc) close

  5. maths

    1. (of a curve or surface) completely enclosing an area or volume

    2. (of a set) having members that can be produced by a specific operation on other members of the same set

      the integers are a closed set under multiplication

  6. Also: checkedphonetics

    1. denoting a syllable that ends in a consonant

    2. another word for close 1

  7. not open to public entry or membership

    the closed society of publishing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • half-closed adjective
  • semiclosed adjective
  • well-closed adjective

Etymology

Origin of closed

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; close, -ed 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The factory closed and the company was shut down for good — owing more than £400,000 to 84 employees.

From BBC

The UAE had already closed its airspace, meaning most passengers had left the airport.

From Barron's

A popular lift-top cafe closed for rebuilding with no signs of reopening.

From The Wall Street Journal

Canada’s economy shrank as it closed out 2025, yet still managed to show resilience against the U.S. administration’s protectionist shift.

From The Wall Street Journal

The lavish presents - all clearly marked with designer labels - piled up and decorated like a Christmas tree, the expensive trips to five-star resorts around the world, the extravagant wedding parties that closed roads to traffic.

From BBC