CLOSE TO

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does close to mean? 

• CLOSE TO (adverb)
  The adverb CLOSE TO has 1 sense:

1. (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct

  Familiarity information: CLOSE TO used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLOSE TO (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct

Synonyms:

about; approximately; around; close to; just about; more or less; or so; roughly; some

Context example:

20 or so people were at the party

 Context examples 

Do not sign papers or launch anything new with Mercury retrograde, and don’t sign too close to the day it goes retrograde (February 16) either.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

My little nurse stood on a low stool close to the table, to take care of me, and direct what I should do.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Ruth shuddered and clung close to her mother.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She came close to Dorothy and kissed her gently on the forehead.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

She came close to me and shouted: I’m dreadfully afraid!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She deliberately held the candle close to his face and stared at him out of eyes wide with fear and recognition.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It is now close to the time of our general gathering.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You are to station yourself close to that open window.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But she would have forgiven me; she would have stuck as close to me as a rope to a block if that woman had never darkened our door.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs. Long told me last night that he sat close to her for half-an-hour without once opening his lips.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)