Meaning & use
closed door meetings
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“closed door meetings” is a form of “closed-door meeting”.
Meaning
nounplural
Private meetings that only invited people may attend, with no reporters or public present.
Grammar: The singular is 'closed-door meeting'; the hyphen appears when it comes before a noun.
Patterns
- hold closed-door meetings
- attend closed-door meetings
- a series of closed-door meetings
The leaders held closed-door meetings to settle the dispute.
Journalists were kept out of the closed-door meetings.
A week of closed-door meetings produced no agreement.
Word forms
| singular | closed-door meeting |
|---|
Common combinations
- hold closed-door meetings
- The board held closed-door meetings all afternoon.
- a series of closed-door meetings
- A series of closed-door meetings followed the scandal.
- behind closed doors
- Much of the deal was negotiated behind closed doors.
- closed-door session
- The committee went into a closed-door session.
Synonyms and how they differ
- private meetings
- 'Private' is more general and does not necessarily suggest secrecy or exclusion of the press.
- secret talks
- 'Secret talks' suggests the meetings themselves are hidden, not just closed to the public.
Opposites
Word family
- closed-door adjective
- Held in private, without outsiders.
- behind closed doors phrase
- In private, away from public view.
Commonly confused: closed door meetings or open-door meeting?
closed door meetings vs open-door meeting
An 'open-door meeting' welcomes anyone to attend, the opposite of a closed-door one.
Practice
The mayor faced criticism for holding ______ meetings with developers.
Choose one answer.
The adjective before a noun is 'closed-door' with a hyphen and no plural -s; 'close-door' changes the meaning to 'near'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “closed door meetings”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.