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• closed-door
  closed-door

  adjective

  held in strict privacy; not open to the press or the public.
• closed door
  closed door

  An obstacle or restriction, as in There are no closed doors in the new field of gene therapy . [First half of 1900s]

closed-door

American  

[klohzd-dawr, -dohr] / ˈkloʊzdˈdɔr, -ˈdoʊr /

adjective

1. held in strict privacy; not open to the press or the public.

   a closed-door strategy meeting of banking executives.

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closed-door British  

adjective

1. private; barred to members of the public

   a closed-door meeting

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closed door Idioms  

1. An obstacle or restriction, as in There are no closed doors in the new field of gene therapy . [First half of 1900s]

2. close one's doors . See close down . Also see behind closed doors ; close the door .

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Etymology

Origin of closed-door

First recorded in 1930–35

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

closed-door closed door

Sixteen of the 33 members expelled are from the military, according to a communique issued on Thursday, which marked the end of the four-day closed-door gathering held at a hotel in Beijing.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

His comments come on the back of a closed-door hearing with EU merger officials Thursday, who have raised concerns the transaction could divert supplies from Europe to China.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Noting what he described as "absolutely exemplary cooperation with the United States", the prosecutor had recommended granting the request for closed-door proceedings so as not to jeopardise that cooperation.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

He made similar remarks during a closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in December 2025, and during a public hearing before the same committee in January.

From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026

Although the final draft of the document was conspicuously silent on slavery, the subject itself haunted the closed-door debates.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Like the angles I chose in photos, the way I shrunk myself to go unnoticed, the relief of a closed door.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026

Details of the performance are being kept secret - with "closed door rehearsals" at Manchester's Co-Op Arena barring everyone but essential staff.

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026

But mysticism also holds sway behind the closed door of politics.

From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025

But while it is an ending, it is not a closed door.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2025

The teachers' plan was to show how difficult it was to register, by marching past the closed door of the registration office and then out of the building.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

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