closure

[ kloh-zher ]

noun

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 ¹( def 5 ).
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. Compare constriction ( def 5 ).
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. Compare error of closure.
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.

verb (used with or without object)

, clo·sured, clo·sur·ing.

1. Parliamentary Procedure. to cloture.

closure

/ 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. See gag rule, guillotine, cloture
   (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

verb

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

Other Words From

• non·closure noun
• pre·closure noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of closure¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of closure¹

C14: from Old French, from Late Latin clausūra bar, from Latin claudere to close

Example Sentences

He staged a protest against beach closures on the Fourth of July.

From Fortune

It can hold 12 letter size hanging folders, and has a latchable closure with a built in handle.

From Popular-Science

Rounded corners help keep the book from wear and tear and the elastic closure keeps pages protected.

From Popular-Science

To better understand what happened in the Patrick Henry cheer program, you have to go back to March when the closures first occurred.

From Voice of San Diego

Amid shutdowns and mandatory store closures, even e-commerce sales haven’t been enough to save some of the biggest brands in the businesses from declaring bankruptcy in the months since the pandemic began.

From Fortune

It was definitely an anti-closure ending, and if the character—and show—has life behind it, it leaves the door wide open.

From The Daily Beast

Moscow officials insist that the hospitals listed for closure lacked professional services and often stayed half empty.

From The Daily Beast

The closure of transport was a perfect example of the far-reaching consequences of clashes in the disputed capital.

From The Daily Beast

“Let us think of his family and his parents and hopefully today they have achieved some measure of closure,” Johnson added.

From The Daily Beast

Writing the book has given Cumming “some sense of closure,” a statement of a “more holistic version of me.”

From The Daily Beast

He zipped open the closure of his helmet and tilted the helmet back.

From Project Gutenberg

In this way does a lazy world consign discussion to silence with the cynical closure.

From Project Gutenberg

The interval between the closure and the opening may be noticeable, in which case we call the consonant double.

From Project Gutenberg

Slight variations in the place of closure due to the place of articulation of neighbouring sounds in a word are inevitable.

From Project Gutenberg

Closure of the glottis by the inflation of the ventricles imposes no strain on the vocal cords.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• closing
• stoppage
• termination