close together
58
1.0
- adjective
:
junto
- Now, stay close together, because we're only going to be here another 15 minutes.
- very close together
- too close together
- so close together
And those two copies come really close together and they pair with one another.
- And those two copies come really close together and they pair with one another.
- This meant they must have been closer together in the past.
- And so the obstacles will start coming faster, closer together, get bigger and bigger.
- So it's going to have to put those two words close together if it wants to do well at this task.
- Now they get closer together, OK.
Examples
-
I could barely make out their shadows standing close together against the gray-black of the river.
Fiction book (1990) -
The children stood close together to stay warm in the chilly breeze.
-
This meant they must have been closer together in the past.
-
Guys, I need you to get close together.
-
Are they really close together?
-
Is it usual to see so many animals so close together?
-
But now there were no walls, and the houses were smaller and set closer together.
Fiction book (1992) -
The goal is to get to the other side, staying close together but not touching.
Academic text (1996) -
That's why we lived close together, often in the same hotel or in a mansion.
Fiction book (1994) -
Everyone, stay close together.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Near in space, time, or degree
240
1.0
At a short distance in space or time
98
2.2
Next to each other in the same place
13
7.0
Next to each other and touching, like two places that share a border
1
6.5
Very close together with little space between them
1
5.1
Placed very near each other, often for eyes or teeth
1
4.9
Items that have almost no space between them
Antonyms
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'situated near each other' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'close' (near) with 'together' (in proximity); the phrase is a straightforward spatial composition that a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer. This non-idiomatic, cross-linguistically common pattern follows normal English adjective/adverb collocation and therefore is fully transparent.
Etymology
The adjective close together comes from a simple picture: things that are close, meaning very near, and standing together, meaning side by side. When people, houses, or trees are so near that there is little space between them, they are 'close together', so the phrase means 'near each other'.