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 (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; close, -ed ²

Example Sentences

A number of other galleries have closed in recent months across Los Angeles, including Blum, Nino Mier Gallery, Clearing, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and L.A.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

The stock closed the day at £335, up from less than £100 a few weeks earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

Sutton says that she’s heard through the gallery grapevine that “even galleries that haven’t closed are struggling,” adding that “it’s a hard time for everybody.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

The sanctions-busting system has continued to function since the Iran war began, even as Tehran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to Western shipping.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

I squeezed them closed, but the ghost of the sun was still there as a purplish splotch behind my lids.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• concluded
• decided
• ended
• resolved
• settled