- close
- close vb1 Close, shut are very close synonyms in the sense of to stop or fill in an opening by means of a closure (as a door, a gate, a lid, or a cover) and are often used interchangeably. However, they may have distinctive nuances of meaning and quite different implications in idiomatic use.Close is the more general term, usually implying both the act of stopping an opening and the result produced by such an act but stressing exclusion of those who would enter or pass through.Shut stresses the act or process and the means employed in this process; it not only carries a more emphatic implication or a more vivid suggestion of drawing a door, gate, lid, or window into a position which closes the opening, but it often also evokes an image of fastening securely (as by drawing a bar or a bolt or locking); hence, in closing a door or gate one merely draws it into a position which bars entrance or egress until it is again opened but in shutting a door or gate one pushes or pulls it into the position where it is closed. Idiomatically, one closes (not shuts)an opening or a gap or one closes (not shuts) a park or a church to the public, because in neither case is the use of a door, gate, or other means of exclusion clearly or definitely implied. On the other hand, in idiomatic use shut, especially when followed by up, out, or against, carries a stronger and often a more direct and emphatic suggestion than close of the interposition of a barrier or obstacle (often an immaterial one) that effectually prevents ingress or egress{
he found every road to the accomplishment of his desires shut against him
}{he shut his eyes to everything he did not wish to see
}{closed his eyes in death
}{he was warned to shut his mouth
}Antonyms: open2 Close, end, conclude, finish, complete, terminate are comparable as transitive verbs meaning to bring something to a stopping point or to its limit, or, with the exception of complete, as intransitive verbs meaning to come to that point.Close usually has latent in it the idea of action upon something which may be regarded as in some sense open as well as unfinished (see CLOSE vb 1){close an account, a debate, or a subscription list
}{recall those nights that closed thy toilsome days— Pope
}{the Peace of Westphalia . . . which closed the Thirty Years' War— Barr
}End conveys a stronger sense of finality ; it frequently has implicit reference to a progress or development which is thought of as having been carried through{the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved— Jer 8:20
}{ended his life
}{ended his labors upon a book
}Conclude is a more formal term and applies particularly to transactions, proceedings, or writings that have a formal or special close{concluded his speech with a peroration
}{conclude a meeting with a benediction
}{I shall conclude this essay upon laughter with observing that the metaphor of laughing . . . runs through all languages— Spectator
}Finish implies that what one set out to do is done; often, therefore, it connotes the completion of the final act in a process of elaboration (as polishing or perfecting){gave the festive table a finishing touch
}{I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do— Jn 17:4
}{it wants but seventeen lines of having an end, I don't say of being finished— Gray
}{I shall finish with a Chopin nocturne— Hellman
}Complete implies the removal of all deficiencies or a finishing of all that has been attempted{when Blondel paused about the middle, the king began the remainder, and completed it— Warton
}{complete their education in Europe
}{art partly completes what nature is herself sometimes unable to bring to perfection— Ellis
}{he may well have thought that his days would be few on earth, and that it would be foolish to put his hand to a task which he could not complete— Buchan
}Terminate implies the setting of a limit in time or space{Ben Lomond terminates the view— Dorothy Wordsworth
}{the age at which the youth of each nation terminates full-time education— Conant
}{he had never seen the instrument that was to terminate his life— Dickens
}{hostilities terminate at sundown
}Analogous words: *stop, cease, quit, desistContrasted words: *begin, commence, start, inaugurate, initiateclose adj 1 Close, near, nigh, nearby are comparable both as adjectives and as adverbs when they mean not far (as in place, time, or relationship) from the point, position, or relation that is indicated or understood.Close (see also CLOSE adj 2/) commonly implies so slight a difference that the two things (sometimes persons) under consideration may be said to be almost in contact if the difference is in distance or almost coincident if the difference is in time, to be of the immediate family if the difference is in relationship, or to be very like the original if the difference is in a copy{the houses on this street are close together
}{close relatives
}{close friends
}{hold one close
}{the more accurately we use words the closer definition we shall give to our thoughts— Quiller-Couch
}{a close shave
}{give close attention to a problem
}{a close translation of a passage
}Near may often be used in place of close{events that come near to each other
}{near relatives
}but it carries a much less explicit suggestion of contiguousness or adjacency and may be used of persons or things that, though not far off (as in place, time, or relationship) are not almost in contact, almost coincident, or of the immediate family{come near where I can see you
}{a near concern of all of us
}Near also is applied to things reproduced (as by copying, imitating, or translating) that more or less closely resemble but are far from replicas of the original; in this sense the term is often used in depreciation{near beer
}{a near translation
}{near silk
}{near-leather upholstery
}Nigh is somewhat outmoded or poetic in the sense of near. As an adverb it, even more often than near, is followed by to, unto, about, on, upon{he was sick nigh unto death— Phil 2:27
}{now the day is over, night is drawing nigh— Baring-Gould
}As an adjective it differs little from near except in sometimes being given preference in the comparative and superlative degrees to nearer and nearest{friend, brother, nighest neighbor— Whitman
}Nearby indicates a position near in distance or close at hand{nearby towns
}{the nearby houses
}{there is no hotel nearby
}Antonyms: remote or remotelyContrasted words: *distant, removed, far, faraway, far-off2 Close, dense, compact, thick are comparable when they mean having constituent parts (as filaments, particles, cells, or atoms) that are massed tightly together.Close may apply to the texture or weave of something{between the close moss violet-inwoven— Shelley
}{a paper of fine, close texture
}{a cloth of close weave
}More often, however, the term applies to something that is made up of a number of single things pressed or seemingly pressed together{he writes a close hand
}{the troops fought in close formation
}Especially as applied to literary expression, close implies a compression of what is to be said into the fewest and most telling words possible{it is a relief to turn back to the austere, close language of Everyman— T. S. Eliot
}Dense applies to something in which the arrangement of parts or units is exceedingly close{dense clouds
}{a densely populated district
}{a dense. star
}{a dense flower spike
}The term commonly implies impenetrability{a dense thicket
}and in extended use may lose the basic notion of close packing of parts{a dense mind
}{dense stupidity
}{dense silence
}{Proust's book is a gigantic dense mesh of complicated relations— Edmund Wilson
}Compact suggests close and firm union or consolidation of parts, especially within a small compass; it often also implies neat or effective arrangement{he was all compact and under his swart, tattooed skin the muscles worked like steel rods— Melville
}{small, compact, homogeneous communities such as the Greek city state or Elizabethan England— Day Lewis
}Thick (see also STOCKY) usually applies to something which is condensed or is made up of abundant and concentrated parts{make the gruel thick and slab— Shak.
}{a thick swarm of bees
}{a thick grove
}{a thick head of hair
}Analogous words: compressed, condensed, constricted (see CONTRACT vb): concentrated, compacted (see COMPACT vb)Antonyms: open3 close-lipped, closemouthed, tight-lipped, secretive, reserved, taciturn, reticent, uncommunicative, *silentAntonyms: open (see FRANK)4 intimate, confidential, chummy, thick, *familiarAntonyms: aloof5 closefisted, tight, tightfisted, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, *stingy, cheeseparing, penny-pinchingAnalogous words: *sparing, economical, frugal, thriftyAntonyms: liberal
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
