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close company

British

/ kləʊs /

noun

Also called: closed company. a company under the control of its directors or fewer than five independent participants

"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

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.

Everywhere, it seems, Christmas keeps close company with calamity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

McKenzie chased his neat kick through to reclaim the ball and offload to Will Jordan, with the touchline for close company, in one movement.

From BBC • Oct. 9, 2023

I spent the better part of a decade in the close company of that fascinating, vexing man, dead some 200 years yet far more alive to me than most of my neighbors.

From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2018

He spent a good while in the close company of the Russian Denis Spitsov, a couple of 21-year-olds out in the woods.

From Washington Post • Feb. 19, 2018

Although I was no longer in love with the Captain, I did not wish to be thrown in such close company with him again—just the two of us.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023