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Glite Dictionary
🔒 Closed tightly ✅ Decided finally 📩 Kept secret
sealed

sealed

3.8
Already decided and cannot be changed
  • adjective
  • /siːld/
translation icon : definitivo
  • The decision was made and the case is now sealed, with no option for appeal.

But like I said, you think it's sealed and you can't change nothing.

Examples

  • They fear not the embrace of death, no, that fate was sealed long ago.

  • I'll believe it when it's signed, sealed, delivered, and I see him walk into the ring.

  • A woman whose lips are sealed would never give away the name of her partner.

  • Once the contract is signed, the agreement will be sealed and binding.

  • After extensive discussions, the agreement was finally sealed by both parties.

Synonyms

set in stone
vssealed
  • Informal
10 3.9

Not able to be changed

means the same but uses less visual plain wording
carved in stone
vssealed
  • Informal
4 5.7

Fixed and not able to be changed

means the same but expresses it with simpler everyday language

Antonyms

open
579 1.0

Not decided and still possible to change

uncertain
149 2.8

Not known for sure and likely to change

Compounds

sealed instrument
  • Formal
9.8

A formal contract with a wax or raised mark that shows it is real

How Final

irreversible
46 6.0
decided
2.6
sealed
3.8
tentative
57 5.1
provisional
55 6.1

Surface Forms

sealed positive

Morphology

sealed = seal (semi-transparent) = seal + ed

Meaning has metaphorically extended to 'finalized' or 'made unchangeable', which learners can often infer but is a non-literal shift.

Etymology

Sealed also comes from using a seal to make an agreement final, as in 'seal the deal' with a stamp or signature. So when a decision or a person's fate is sealed, it is fixed and cannot be changed.