closet
a small room, enclosed recess, or cabinet for storing clothing, food, utensils, etc.
a small private room, especially one used for prayer, meditation, etc.
a state or condition of secrecy or carefully guarded privacy: Some conservatives remain in the closet except on election day. Gay liberation has encouraged many gay people to come out of the closet.
private; secluded.
suited for use or enjoyment in privacy: closet reflections; closet prayer.
engaged in private study or speculation; speculative; unpractical: a closet thinker with no practical experience.
being or functioning as such in private; secret: a closet anarchist.
to shut up in a private room for a conference, interview, etc. (usually used in the passive voice): The secretary of state was closeted with the senator for three hours in a tense session.
Origin of closet
1Words Nearby closet
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use closet in a sentence
She opened closet doors, snapped light switches, hunted for stains on the carpet.
The stimulus relieved short-term pain, but eviction’s impact is a long haul | Kyle Swenson | February 8, 2021 | Washington PostThe officers returned fire, fatally shooting the man in the closet who was later identified as Green.
U.S. marshal shot, hospitalized in Baltimore; suspect fatally shot | Justin Wm. Moyer, Emily Davies | February 4, 2021 | Washington PostSo Wessel-Kroeschell, who has served in the statehouse since 2005, began her challenge to the speaker by looking inside her closet for the perfect pair of denim.
Iowa’s House speaker said he can’t make lawmakers wear masks — but he did enforce a ban on jeans | Teo Armus | February 4, 2021 | Washington PostIf he leaves for college, Gross may bring one of his Capitals jerseys, so he’s reminded of his mom each time he opens his closet in his dorm room.
A sick mother, a loving son, a signed Ovechkin jersey — and how the Caps tried to help | Kyle Melnick | February 1, 2021 | Washington PostRead on to learn about some of our favorite products plus a few tips for finding the right model for you and your closet.
The Best Belt Racks To Keep Your Closet Organized | PopSci Commerce Team | January 22, 2021 | Popular-Science
And Duke was a closet Nazi getting exposed by an avalanche of reporting.
One night in 2004, my college boyfriend called me from inside a closet in a north Toronto housing project.
But once Kanye came along, Kim had to literally clean out her closet.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s Balmain Campaign: High Fashion Meets Low Culture | Amy Zimmerman | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen I was in the closet in my twenties, I considered suicide almost every day.
Do LGBTs Owe Christians an Olive Branch? Try The Other Way Around | Jay Michaelson | December 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt should be possible to make an interesting film in a closet with the door shut.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my closet like that of a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through the ring.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftHe implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a hidden closet behind the huge chimney.
The Courier of the Ozarks | Byron A. DunnBut one chance he had, before supper was laid, of a word alone with his mother, in her own closet.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniEvery chest of drawers, and wardrobe, and closet in the house was ransacked, to find bed-quilts and blankets for the army.
Mike Marble | Uncle FrankThe Spaniard's boat was lashed so that no mortal could get her clear, and the little craft was used as a sort of lumber-closet.
The Chequers | James Runciman
British Dictionary definitions for closet
/ (ˈklɒzɪt) /
a small cupboard or recess
a small private room
short for water closet
(modifier) private or secret
(modifier) suited or appropriate for use in private: closet meditations
(modifier) US and Canadian based on or devoted to theory; speculative: a closet strategist
(tr) to shut up or confine in a small private room, esp for conference or meditation
Origin of closet
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with closet
see come out of the closet; skeleton in the closet.
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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