close to

comparative closer to · superlative closest to

1. Approximately.

   It lasted close to an hour.

   1 more example

   It rained for close to forty days and forty nights.

   Synonyms: -ish, about, all but, almost, approaching, around, by and large, circa

2. informalNearly; almost.

   The project is close to finished.

1. Near.

   The chair was close to the window.

   3 more examples

   She looked fraught and close to tears.

   They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect.

   1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC

   Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC