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View synonyms for skeleton in the closet

skeleton in the closet

  1. A potentially embarrassing secret: “Before nominating the new judge, the committee asked him if he had any skeletons in the closet.”


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Idioms and Phrases

A shameful secret, as in Both her parents were alcoholics; that was the skeleton in her closet . This metaphoric term alludes to a murder victim long concealed in a closet, possibly based on some true incident that is now forgotten. [Early 1800s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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