- near in space or time
- He walked into the room, closely followed by the rest of the family.
- closely spaced rows of seats
- streets of closely packed terraced houses
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- near in family relationship
- The two species are closely related.
- having a strong connection
- to be closely linked/associated/related
- The two events are closely connected.
- The country's economy remains closely tied to oil.
- in a way that shows you are very involved in the work or activities of somebody else, usually seeing and talking to them regularly
- The organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries.
- The Royal Navy was closely involved in the early development of wireless technology.
- They collaborated closely together for the next four years
- carefully
- I sat and watched everyone very closely.
- The government has looked closely at the arguments for and against a change in the law.
- We will be closely monitoring the situation.
- a closely guarded secret
- in a way that is very similar to somebody/something else
- She closely resembled her mother at the same age.
- It was an exciting game between two closely matched teams.
- closely contested/fought won or likely to be won by only a small amount or distance
- a closely contested election
- with little or no space in between
- over 1 000 closely printed pages
- closely shaved/shaven/cut (of hair) cut very short, near to the skin
- He had a closely shaved head and a small, neat beard.
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closely