closed city

noun

Any of several settlements, especially in the Soviet Union (historically) or Russia (today), that have travel and residency restrictions, typically because they house sensitive nuclear or defense facilities.

Opposite
open city
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Meanings

nounclosed city (plural closed cities)

plural closed cities

  1. Any of several settlements, especially in the Soviet Union (historically) or Russia (today), that have travel and residency restrictions, typically because they house sensitive nuclear or defense facilities.

    [A] man with a gravelly, slow-talking, New Mexico drawl, Glassmire had built a career as a respected scientist who had worked as an engineer for Los Alamos National Laboratory in the mid-fifties, when Los Alamos was still a closed city.

    2017 January 3, Douglas Preston, The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN

    Antonyms: open city

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny of several settlements, especially in the Soviet Union (historically) or Russia (today), that have travel and residency restrictions, typically because they house sensitive nuclear or defense facilities.

Opposite
open city

Translations

Russian закры́тый го́род, ЗАТО
  • закры́тый го́род (zakrýtyj górod)Translations
  • ЗАТО (ZATO)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

closed city. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20city

MLA

“closed city.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20city. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “closed city,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20city.

Source: closed city on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.