to close in on
63
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /kloʊz ɪn ɑn/
:
acercarse a
- The hunters slowly closed in on the deer, trying not to make any noise.
- researchers close in on
And for now, she's closing in on her master's right now.
- And for now, she's closing in on her master's right now.
- The walls are clearly closing in on Trump.
- What needs to happen is the outside world needs to start closing in on your hero.
- Somebody comes running around the bend at the end and and closes in on you fast.
- They have cataleptic Fantasia in Greek, right, which is modeled as, you know, like a fist closing in on another fist.
- And you see me walk up to the mic stand and just grab it and then just fucking like, hold it because the whole world starts closing in on me.
- Now notice it's closing in on us, oppresses us.
- He is closing in on his Colorado Crush update.
- So clearly there is something closing in on panic with respect to some of these smaller banks.
Examples
-
The investigators were now closing in on the real killers.
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We're closing in on the water park!
-
When he comes to get the meat we drop the net and close in on him.
-
What needs to happen is the outside world needs to start closing in on your hero.
-
We're closing in on them.
-
Now, I must have been going in the wrong direction, because the cops were closing in on me.
-
They've been closing in on us all night.
-
And with only 100 meters to go, the Americans could be closing in on an Olympic record.
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Lando saw that a small ship was closing in on his position.
Fiction book (1991) -
In other news, sources say law enforcement is closing in on an underground gambling operation with mob ties.
Synonyms
532
2.1
To move closer in space to a person or thing
119
4.6
Surround or enclose a place by bringing things nearer from all sides
115
1.0
Move closer to someone or something
56
1.8
To move closer in space or time
18
2.6
To move closer in place or time
8
2.9
Move nearer to someone or something
1
4.3
Move closer to surround something
1
4.8
To move close together around a person or thing leaving little space
Antonyms
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core meaning (‘to move nearer’) is directly related to 'close' (to draw near), so a B1 learner who knows the parts could infer the basic idea of approaching. However, the particle sequence 'in on' adds a nuanced sense of moving in to surround or target someone that is a phrasal-verb pattern and not fully predictable from the prepositions alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Close in on comes from the image of hunters or police who close in on a target, slowly getting nearer and surrounding it, so it means 'to move nearer to' or 'to surround'.