closure

American  

[kloh-zher] / ˈkloʊ ʒər /

noun

• closures
  plural

1. the act of closing; the state of being closed.

2. a bringing to an end; conclusion.

3. something that closes or shuts.

4. closer.

5. an architectural screen or parapet, especially one standing free between columns or piers.

6. Phonetics. an occlusion of the vocal tract as an articulatory feature of a particular speech sound.

7. Parliamentary Procedure. a cloture.

8. Surveying. completion of a closed traverse in such a way that the point of origin and the endpoint coincide within an acceptably small margin of error.

9. Mathematics.

   1. the property of being closed with respect to a particular operation.

   2. the intersection of all closed sets that contain a given set.

10. Psychology.

    1. the tendency to see an entire figure even though the picture of it is incomplete, based primarily on the viewer's past experience.

    2. a sense of psychological certainty or completeness.

       a need for closure.

11. Obsolete. something that encloses or shuts in; enclosure.

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verb (used with or without object)

closured, closuring

1. Parliamentary Procedure. to cloture.

closure British  

/ ˈkləʊʒə /

noun

1. the act of closing or the state of being closed

2. an end or conclusion

3. something that closes or shuts, such as a cap or seal for a container

4. (in a deliberative body) a procedure by which debate may be halted and an immediate vote taken See also cloture guillotine gag rule

5. 1. the resolution of a significant event or relationship in a person's life

   2. a sense of contentment experienced after such a resolution

6. geology the vertical distance between the crest of an anticline and the lowest contour that surrounds it

7. phonetics the obstruction of the breath stream at some point along the vocal tract, such as the complete occlusion preliminary to the articulation of a stop

8. logic

   1. the closed sentence formed from a given open sentence by prefixing universal or existential quantifiers to bind all its free variables

   2. the process of forming such a closed sentence

9. maths

   1. the smallest closed set containing a given set

   2. the operation of forming such a set

10. psychol the tendency, first noted by Gestalt psychologists, to see an incomplete figure like a circle with a gap in it as more complete than it is

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verb

1. (tr) (in a deliberative body) to end (debate) by closure

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonclosure
  noun
• preclosure
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• closures
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of closure

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin clausūra. See close, -ure

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Explanation

Closure is the end or the closing down of something. It can be physical — like the closure of your local library — or emotional, like the closure you experience when you finally come to terms with the end of a romance. Closure comes from the Latin claus ("shut"), and it has many different shades of meaning. A road closure blocks that road from traffic. If you find closure after an emotional hardship, you're ready to move on. An obstruction in a small passage, like a pipe, is also a closure, as is the button on your sweater. In debate, closure (usually cloture), stops debate and starts the vote.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

closure closures closured

Growing financial pressures across the charities sector has been evident in recent months, including the closure of suicide prevention charity Papyrus in September.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Mairs said Petrie's victims had shown great courage in reporting his crimes and that he hoped the sentence would bring them some "closure and comfort".

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Fires burning for months in Indonesia have sent smoke across the region, and on Thursday East Timor began a three-day school closure prompted by the haze.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Still, Regions Financial chief economist Richard Moody said supply challenges like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, tariffs and a shortage of workers in some industries have been a bigger driver of inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

She says, We’ll hear more about this story later but isn’t it good that we now have closure?

From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine

Here are trails to hike before major rainfall strikes Highway 2, the main route through the San Gabriel Mountains, potentially leading to closures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

In East Timor, people were out in the capital Dili under a yellow-tinged sky, but most were wearing masks, as the government advised a day earlier in announcing the school closures.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

The closures were necessary "as a preventive measure to protect the health of students, teachers, and other members of the educational community, given current air quality conditions", the government said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

The MOJ say around 6,500 net prison places were created between 2022 and 2025, once closures are taken into consideration.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

She stanched the bleeding with wadded paper towels, then pulled out alcohol wipes and a pack of butterfly closures.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

Theatres are facing lower sales from the cost-of-living crisis only a year after most re-opened following closured prompted by Covid lockdowns.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2022

Christian's response was closured by a wild outcry from the wood, hounds and horn lifting up their voices together in sudden delirium.

From Mount Music by Martin Ross

Bad enough to have Members working off at public meetings speeches that had been closured in Commons.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 8, 1893 by Sir F. C. (Francis Cowley) Burnand

After another fight, the Government closured through an Appropriation Bill covering Supply for ten weeks, and the House was dissolved on 31st August, the election being fixed for 2nd October.

From Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information by Queensland

"I've never met him," he answered, and closured my next question by jumping up and helping Mrs. Wylton out of the taxi.

From The Sixth Sense A Novel by Stephen McKenna

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Related Words

• closing
• stoppage
• termination

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