Word.ws English Dictionary

close to the metal

close to the metal adverb: with fewer abstractions.

Adverb

close to the metal (comparative closer to the metal, superlative closest to the metal)

  1. With fewer abstractions.

Forms of close to the metal

comparativecloser to the metal
superlativeclosest to the metal

Origin of close to the metal

Metal here is a metonym for hardware, which is mostly made of different metals.

Questions about close to the metal

What does close to the metal mean?
Close to the metal means with fewer abstractions.
What part of speech is close to the metal?
Close to the metal is an adverb.

Words near close to the metal in the dictionary

  1. close to
  2. close to home
  3. close to one's vest
  4. close to someone's heart
  5. close to the bone
  6. close to the metal
  7. close to the vest
  8. close to the wind
  9. close together
  10. close up
  11. close up shop

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: close to the metal (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.

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Cite this entry: “close to the metal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/close_to_the_metal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.