Jump To:

• 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.

---

closed-door British  

adjective

1. private; barred to members of the public

   a closed-door meeting

---

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 .

---

Etymology

Origin of closed-door

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

closed-door closed door

Backed by child protection groups, Marquetty unsuccessfully opposed the closed-door proceedings, arguing that it was "paradoxical" for a defendant accused of isolating his victims to be tried behind closed doors.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Bryden outlined Jibril’s life and death in a closed-door intelligence briefing in June attended by U.S. special-operations personnel and East African government officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

"An unstable and potentially dangerous equilibrium," is how the situation was described in closed-door remarks by a senior UN official at a recent international gathering.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday for closed-door talks that the administration described as "positive and productive".

From Barron's ● Jul. 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

"We are still knocking on a closed door," Dombos told the BBC, "but at least they are listening on the other side."

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

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

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

From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025

San Ramon police told a local news station that the closed door would have required a security guard to open.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025

Dicey knocked on the closed door of the downstairs bedroom, but there was no answer.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt