closure

American  

[kloh-zher] / ˈkloʊ ʒər /

noun

• closures
  plural

1. the act of closing; the state of being closed.

2. a bringing to an end; conclusion.

3. something that closes or shuts.

4. closer.

5. an architectural screen or parapet, especially one standing free between columns or piers.

6. Phonetics. an occlusion of the vocal tract as an articulatory feature of a particular speech sound.

7. Parliamentary Procedure. a cloture.

8. Surveying. completion of a closed traverse in such a way that the point of origin and the endpoint coincide within an acceptably small margin of error.

9. Mathematics.

   1. the property of being closed with respect to a particular operation.

   2. the intersection of all closed sets that contain a given set.

10. Psychology.

    1. the tendency to see an entire figure even though the picture of it is incomplete, based primarily on the viewer's past experience.

    2. a sense of psychological certainty or completeness.

       a need for closure.

11. Obsolete. something that encloses or shuts in; enclosure.

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verb (used with or without object)

closured, closuring

1. Parliamentary Procedure. to cloture.

closure British  

/ ˈkləʊʒə /

noun

1. the act of closing or the state of being closed

2. an end or conclusion

3. something that closes or shuts, such as a cap or seal for a container

4. (in a deliberative body) a procedure by which debate may be halted and an immediate vote taken See also cloture guillotine gag rule

5. 1. the resolution of a significant event or relationship in a person's life

   2. a sense of contentment experienced after such a resolution

6. geology the vertical distance between the crest of an anticline and the lowest contour that surrounds it

7. phonetics the obstruction of the breath stream at some point along the vocal tract, such as the complete occlusion preliminary to the articulation of a stop

8. logic

   1. the closed sentence formed from a given open sentence by prefixing universal or existential quantifiers to bind all its free variables

   2. the process of forming such a closed sentence

9. maths

   1. the smallest closed set containing a given set

   2. the operation of forming such a set

10. psychol the tendency, first noted by Gestalt psychologists, to see an incomplete figure like a circle with a gap in it as more complete than it is

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verb

1. (tr) (in a deliberative body) to end (debate) by closure

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonclosure
  noun
• preclosure
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• closures
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of closure

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin clausūra. See close, -ure

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Explanation

Closure is the end or the closing down of something. It can be physical — like the closure of your local library — or emotional, like the closure you experience when you finally come to terms with the end of a romance. Closure comes from the Latin claus ("shut"), and it has many different shades of meaning. A road closure blocks that road from traffic. If you find closure after an emotional hardship, you're ready to move on. An obstruction in a small passage, like a pipe, is also a closure, as is the button on your sweater. In debate, closure (usually cloture), stops debate and starts the vote.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

closure closures closured

During the closure, Caltrans said traffic control officers will be deployed to 18 key intersections in the area to monitor and manually facilitate traffic flow, and local police will expand commercial traffic enforcement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Our “magazine,” as we then thought of it, was Salon.com, an organization that has just announced its closure after more than three decades of publishing reporting, commentary, and criticism.

From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026

The Danish company said severe typhoons in East Asia and the disruption to shipping from the Strait of Hormuz closure caused widespread network congestion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

Addressing the court, Mr Justice Rooney said he hoped the settlement would provide "some closure".

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

Our friends and neighbors resented not only the school closure but most especially the negative economic impact our presence in that school had on our community.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

South Wales Police said the incident was ongoing, with road closures in place.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Ramp and lane closures willbegin overnight Friday ahead of the complete shutdown at midnight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

KFC has been trying to push sandwiches, wings and tenders to diversify away from its traditional bone-in buckets of chicken in a bid to revive its brand following years of declining sales and closures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Three-fourths of the 3,460 job cuts and four of the five site closures will be in Germany, the company said in a statement, pointing to "above-average" costs for workers in Europe's top economy.

From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026

My little brother, Teddy, lets out a war whoop when Mom’s AM radio announces the closures.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

Theatres are facing lower sales from the cost-of-living crisis only a year after most re-opened following closured prompted by Covid lockdowns.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2022

The qualifying adjective 'good' is dangerous, and before the time for the bill was half expired, Bozzy has closured it and the amendment.

From James Boswell Famous Scots Series by W. Keith (William Keith) Leask

Bad enough to have Members working off at public meetings speeches that had been closured in Commons.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 8, 1893 by Sir F. C. (Francis Cowley) Burnand

After another fight, the Government closured through an Appropriation Bill covering Supply for ten weeks, and the House was dissolved on 31st August, the election being fixed for 2nd October.

From Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information by Queensland

"I've never met him," he answered, and closured my next question by jumping up and helping Mrs. Wylton out of the taxi.

From The Sixth Sense A Novel by Stephen McKenna

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Related Words

• closing
• stoppage
• termination

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