conclusus

Conclusus is a Latin adjective and the perfect passive participle of concludere, meaning “closed, shut, enclosed.” It agrees in gender, number, and case with its noun (conclusus, conclusa, conclusum). In classical and medieval Latin it occurs in ordinary descriptive usage as “closed” or “enclosed” and can function as a substantive noun meaning “an enclosure” or “enclosed space” when used without a modifying noun.

In literature and archival sources, conclusus appears in phrases such as porta conclusa (a closed gate) or locus conclusus (an enclosed place). The term also appears in architectural and estate descriptions for enclosed courtyards, cloisters, or inner yards within ecclesiastical or monastic precincts. In these contexts the sense is physical containment by walls or barriers.

In English-language scholarship, conclusus is largely encountered in Latin texts or quotations rather than as an independent English term; it is not a productive modern English word, and its meaning is usually clear from context or rendered as “enclosed” or “closed.” The related noun conclusio means “a conclusion” in legal, logical, or rhetorical Latin, and is the etymological source of English conclusion, but this is a separate word with its own uses.

See also: concludere, conclusion, enclosure, cloister.