Closing

How to spell closing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce closing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does closing mean?

1. verbThe act of shutting something or bringing it to an end.
2. adjectiveComing at the end; final.
3. nounThe final stage of a property sale, when ownership is transferred and documents are signed.

Closing in a sentence

• verb

  The staff began closing the shop at six o'clock.

• adjective

  The mayor delivered the closing remarks of the conference.

• noun

  Both parties met at the lawyer's office for the closing on the house.

• verb

  Closing the deal took three weeks of negotiation.

• adjective

  In the closing minutes of the match the home team scored.

• noun

  The buyer paid several fees at the closing before receiving the keys.

Where does closing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base verb 'close' travelled into English through Old French 'clore' and its past participle 'clos', which trace back to the Latin 'claudere', meaning 'to shut' or 'to bring to an end'. The same Latin root gave us a whole family of related words, including 'conclude', 'include', 'exclude', and 'enclosure', all of which carry the idea of shutting something in or off. English adopted 'close' in the 1300s, and the form 'closing' simply attaches the present participle and gerund ending '-ing' to it, producing both the action of shutting and a noun for a final stage. Over time the word picked up its commercial and ceremonial senses, such as the closing of a shop, the closing of a deal, or the closing remarks of a speech. The spelling stays regular: keep the single 's' from 'close' and drop the silent 'e' before adding '-ing'.

How the word is built

• clos- (from Latin claudere: to shut)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)