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 (opposed to 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.

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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: checked.  phonetics

   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

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of closed

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

Explanation

If something's closed, it's shut or sealed. When your brother's bedroom door is closed, you'd better knock; if the library's closed, you'll have to come back tomorrow to check out some books. Things that are closed aren't open. People sleep with their eyes closed, and your neighborhood bookstore might be closed on Sundays. Things can be figuratively closed too: if you have a closed mind, you're not willing to consider new ideas or perspectives. The word closed comes from the Old French verb clore, "to shut" or "to cut off from," with its Latin root claudere, "to block up or make inaccessible."

Example Sentences

The driver was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle in a closed section of the lake and for other water safety equipment violations, police said.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

Many have been drawn by the fact that these markets are open 24/7, allowing traders to speculate on the price of oil and other real-world assets even when markets are closed over the weekend.

From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026

On Friday, the synagogue reopened after being closed since Jan. 7, 2025, following the devastating fire.

From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026

The shares closed the day at $76 9/16, a one-day return of 282.8%.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026

And so I closed the Bible and to that group of women clustering close, I told the truth about myself—my self-centeredness, my stinginess, my lack of love.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• concluded
• decided
• ended
• resolved
• settled