Closest

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkləʊ.sɪst/

Definitions

1. The phrase describes the item that is the least distant in proximity
2. Having the shortest distance or time separating one thing from another ; being most emotionally or personally connected
3. Positioned with the smallest gap in space or moments ; characterized by a strong personal or private connection

Etymology: The superlative "closest" is simply "close" with the ending "-est" added, so its story is really the story of "close" itself. "Close" comes through two routes that merged. One is an Old English verb "clȳsan", meaning to shut, which became Middle English "closen". The other is Middle English "clos", meaning shut up or confined, borrowed from Old French "clos" and ultimately from Latin "clausus", the past participle of "claudere", to bar or shut. The Latin root is strikingly physical. "Claudere" sits in a family of words for bars, bolts and keys, such as "clavis", meaning key, and "claustrum", meaning bar or barrier. The same ancestry gives us "clause" and "cloister", so "close" and "clause" are doublets, two English words from one source that arrived by different paths. The sense of nearness developed from the idea of things being shut together, with no space left between them.

Synonyms: nearest, adjacent, proximity, intimate, familiar

Antonyms: farthest, distant, remote, least, strangest