Word.ws English Dictionary

close quarters

/ˌkləʊs ˈkwɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)z/

close quarters is the plural of close quarter.

Meaning of close quarter

Noun

close quarter (plural close quarters)

  1. any of several strong wooden barriers erected across the deck of a merchant sailing ship, having loopholes through which muskets could be fired to resist boarding attacks

Noun

close quarters pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Very near proximity; cramped conditions.
    • They were fighting at close quarters.
    • Four-to-a-room is living in close quarters.
    Synonyms:
    CQ

Synonyms of close quarters

Origin of close quarters

See close quarter.

Words formed from close quarters

  • close-quarters battle
  • close-quarters battle weapon
  • close-quarters combat

Questions about close quarters

What does close quarters mean?
Close quarters means very near proximity; cramped conditions.
What is close quarters the plural of?
Close quarters is the plural of close quarter.
What part of speech is close quarters?
Close quarters is a noun.
How do you pronounce close quarters?
Close quarters is pronounced /ˌkləʊs ˈkwɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)z/.

Words near close quarters in the dictionary

  1. close order
  2. close order drill
  3. close out
  4. close protection
  5. close quarter
  6. close quarters
  7. close range
  8. close ranges
  9. close ranks
  10. close reach
  11. close reached

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: close quarters (page history and authors); close quarter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “close quarters.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/close_quarters. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.