closely held

adjective

: having most stock shares and voting rights in the hands of a few
a closely held business

Examples of closely held in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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No one foresaw this at the start of Trump’s second term, when the number was closely held by the president’s friends and a handful of journalists who used it sparingly. Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2026 And real power remains closely held among a small circle of Sharaa’s associates and former Tahrir al-Sham members. Sam Heller, Time, 23 Sep. 2025 Information that could allow schools to assess the software’s effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves. Sharon Lurye, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2025 That wave of acquisition concentrated enormous value into illiquid and closely held assets. Azeem Khan, Forbes.com, 4 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for closely held

Word History

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of closely held was in 1946

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Cite this Entry

“Closely held.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/closely%20held. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.

Legal Definition

closely held

adjective
close·​ly held
ˈklōs-lē-ˈheld
: having most stock shares and corporate voting rights in the hands of a few shareholders
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