close quarters

American  

[klohs] / kloʊs /

noun

1. a small, cramped place or position.

2. direct and close contact in a fight.

   They met at close quarters, exchanging many quick jabs.

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close quarters British  

/ kləʊs /

plural noun

1. a narrow cramped space or position

2. 1. engaged in hand-to-hand combat

   2. in close proximity; very near together

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Etymology

Origin of close quarters

First recorded in 1745–55

Example Sentences

In Minneapolis, those officers are walking and driving through the largely residential city looking for people to arrest—and coming into close quarters with angry and organized residents.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 17, 2026

“Anytime you have a gathering of kids in close quarters, you risk sharing germs,” says Elizabeth Murray, a pediatrician in Rochester, New York.

From Slate • Jan. 9, 2026

And they have to play in these close quarters; it was a very close kind of set.

From Salon • Sep. 23, 2025

The trial has offered a rare chance for the French public to see the once-revered actor - star of films like Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac - at close quarters.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2025

In the close quarters of an American nuclear family, their mother's prodigious energy was becoming a real drain on their self-determination.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez