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

Etymology

Origin of closure

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

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

Astronomers have claimed that the closure of Lovell and the e-MERLIN network will mean that Britain will fall behind in a field that was pioneered at Jodrell Bank.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

“We hope these findings provide them with some measure of peace and closure after several difficult months.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its effect on energy prices led German inflation to jump in March and April, and forced downward revisions of economic forecasts for Europe’s largest economy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Ubisoft said it was forging ahead with plans to cut costs: last month, it announced the closure of the Winnipeg and Belgrade studios as well as a restructuring of its Barcelona studio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

He’d been through this cycle already with his father, and it was true that Moss had never gotten closure.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

That brings the total to 2,773, taking into account 31 store closures.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

That figure far exceeds the 22 total closures seen in all of 2025, while accounting for about 43% of all U.S.-listed ETF closures this year.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Nearly 100,000 people have been affected by evacuation or stay-at-home orders because of the fires, which have burned through campsites and forced road closures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Picking up the pace is a worthy goal, he said, but that would mean beefing up the workforce, disrupting traffic and commerce with more street closures, and asking customers to write bigger checks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

She made the torn edges kiss and held them together with the closures, then put a wide bandage over all of it.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

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

A further list of closured stations Elicits further protestations.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, January 10, 1917 by Various

Christian's response was closured by a wild outcry from the wood, hounds and horn lifting up their voices together in sudden delirium.

From Mount Music by Ross, Martin

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

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 Leask, W. Keith (William Keith)

Related Words

• closing
• stoppage
• termination