to close ranks
9
4.4
- phrasal verb
:
unirse
- "I respect the will of our convention and primary voters, and you have to close ranks behind your nominee," Labriola said.
But if it's about their team, they close ranks.
- But if it's about their team, they close ranks.
Examples
-
You're all alone out here, so let's close ranks and stick together.
-
We should be closing ranks, working together to prevent this from happening again.
Blog text (4) -
We decided to close ranks, to act out a lie.
-
The men on either side who had not been hit closed ranks and came on.
Fiction book (1992) -
As the men got closer to the car, they closed ranks.
Fiction book (1994) -
Family and friends closed ranks around him by publicly protesting the committee's decision.
Academic text (1999) -
Look for more of the same as the union cartel closes ranks to promote their own agenda.
Blog text (1) -
Officers closed ranks against critics of the army, whom they dismissed as ignorant of martial affairs.
Academic text (1990) -
During the crisis, the team decided to close ranks to support each other and face the challenges together.
-
After the incident, the members of the group quickly closed ranks to defend their reputation.
Synonyms
274
2.7
Join with others to work for the same goal
133
2.7
Stay together and help each other during hard times
95
2.5
Join with other people or groups to work together on a goal
57
3.4
To work together with others to achieve a common goal
34
3.1
Join with other people to work together for a common purpose
33
3.4
To join others to support the same cause
2
4.1
To stay united and help each other in hard times
1
4.6
To join with others to reach a common goal
Antonyms
How United
33
3.4
9
4.4
34
3.1
274
2.7
121
2.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a metaphorical extension of literally bringing 'ranks' (soldiers/rows) closer using 'close', so a learner who knows 'close' and 'rank' can plausibly infer a sense of coming together or tightening formation. However, understanding it as ‘uniting to support one another’ requires mapping the military formation metaphor to social solidarity, which is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Close ranks comes from soldiers moving their rows, their ranks, close together in battle so they had no gaps and could protect each other. So close ranks now means 'to unite and support each other' when people face trouble.