What does "close-up" mean?

A photographic (or other) image in which the subject is shown at a relatively large scale, and occupies most or all of the frame.

What is a synonym for "close-up"?

Common synonyms include: kinescope, long shot, motion picture, pan shot, retake, shot.

//ˈkləʊsʌp// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A photographic (or other) image in which the subject is shown at a relatively large scale, and occupies most or all of the frame.
2
A photographic (or other) image in which the subject is shown at a relatively large scale, and occupies most or all of the frame wordnet

Adjective

1
In near proximity. not-comparable
"A worldwide TV audience had a close-up view of the astronauts when they splashed down and as they emerged from the bobbing spaceship they call Gumdrop."

"Seen close-up, things have a way of showing their defects, their innate ugliness."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.