Dictionary

closely en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈkləʊsliː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkləʉsli/ (Australia)
• /ˈklɐʉsli/ (New-Zealand)
• (California) audio
• /ˈkloʊsli/ (Canada, General-American)

Etymology

From close + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a close manner.
   • The borderline between East and West Berlin was very closely guarded.
   • Test large, cylindrical, early portion closely coiled and always completely involute, later and larger portion uncoiled[…] 1946, Joseph Augustine Cushman, The larger fossil Foraminifera of the Panama Canal Zone:
   • Finnish and Estonian are closely related languages.
   • “King Homer” follows the story of King Kong closely, with Mr. Burns taking the freakishly over-sized King Homer from his native Africa, where he lives proud as a simian god, to the United States, where he is an initially impressive but ultimately rather limited Broadway attraction. 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
   • The chairs are too closely spaced; could you move them apart?
2. (obsolete) secretly; privately
   • That nought she did but wayle, and often steepe / Her dainty couch with tears which closely she did weepe. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:

Forms

Deriveds

closely held · overclosely

Translations (27)

be це́сна (in a close manner) · de nah (in a close manner) · uk ті́сно (in a close manner) · pl blisko (in a close manner) · fi läheisesti (in a close manner) · de dicht (in a close manner) · pt proximamente (in a close manner) · it da vicino (in a close manner) · fi visusti (in a close manner) · es cercanamente (in a close manner) · bg близо (in a close manner) · ru те́сно (in a close manner) · it a stretto contatto (in a close manner) · fi tiiviisti (in a close manner) · eo proksime (in a close manner) · pt de perto (in a close manner) · fr étroitement (in a close manner) · uk бли́зько (in a close manner) · it strettamente (in a close manner) · de nahe (in a close manner) · be блі́зка (in a close manner) · nl dichtbij (in a close manner) · fi tarkasti (in a close manner) · ru бли́зко (in a close manner) · af nabye (in a close manner) · de eng (in a close manner) · bg плътно (in a close manner)