closing

Pluralclosings

1. 1
   adjective

   Coming at the end of a series of events, or happening after everything else.

   The senator delivered her closing remarks just before the vote.

   Both sides presented their closing arguments to the jury on Friday.

   Similarfinal, concluding, last

   Oppositeopening, initial, introductory

   Note

   An adjective of position, not degree. It places something last in a sequence, so it cannot be graded: nothing is "more closing" than something else. It sits before the noun it marks and pairs naturally with words for parts of a performance or speech, such as closing words, closing remarks, or the closing scene of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The end or final part of something.

   The closing of the ceremony featured a moving tribute to the founders.

   Toward the closing of the season, attendance had dropped sharply.

   Similarend, conclusion, close, finish, ending

   Oppositeopening, beginning, start (entry)

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of close.

   The old mill is closing after a century of operation.

   Closing the negotiations early disappointed several investors.

   Note

   The verb form has two jobs. As a participle it builds progressives (the mill is closing). As a gerund it names the action but keeps its verb habits, taking a direct object without an article: closing the negotiations. That is the way to tell it from the noun for the act, which takes the and of (the closing of the border) and can become plural as closings.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   The act by which something is shut or brought to a conclusion.

   Residents protested the closing of the neighborhood library.

   The closing of the border halted trade for several days.

   Similarclosure, shutdown, shutting

   Oppositeopening

5. 5
   nouncountable

   The final stage of a home sale, when the documents are signed and officially recorded.

   Delays in the mortgage approval pushed the closing back two weeks.

   She brought a certified check to the closing as her agent advised.

   Similarsettlement, completion

6. 6
   nouncountable

   In mathematical morphology, the result of dilating a set and then eroding the result with the same structuring element.

   The closing removed dark spots smaller than the structuring element.

   Engineers used a closing to bridge the narrow gaps between detected regions.

   Oppositeopening

   Note

   A two-step operation from mathematical morphology: dilate the set, then erode the result with the same structuring element. Read the phrase "the erosion of the dilation" from the inside out, because dilation comes first. The effect is to fill small holes and narrow gulfs while broadly keeping the object's overall shape and size. The noun is countable: you apply a closing, or several closings in turn.

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