closet
Americannoun
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closets
plural
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a small room, enclosed recess, or cabinet for storing clothing, food, utensils, etc.
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a small private room, especially one used for prayer, meditation, etc.
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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.
adjective
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private; secluded.
-
suited for use or enjoyment in privacy.
closet reflections; closet prayer.
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engaged in private study or speculation; speculative; unpractical.
a closet thinker with no practical experience.
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being or functioning as such in private; secret.
a closet anarchist.
verb (used with object)
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closets,
present (3rd person singular)
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closeted,
past participle, past
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closeting
present participle
noun
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a small cupboard or recess
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a small private room
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short for water closet
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(modifier) private or secret
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(modifier) suited or appropriate for use in private
closet meditations
-
(modifier) based on or devoted to theory; speculative
a closet strategist
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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closetsimple
-
closetssimple
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have closetedperfect
-
has closetedperfect
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am closetingprogressive
-
are closetingprogressive
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is closetingprogressive
-
have been closetingperfect progressive
-
has been closetingperfect progressive
Past
-
closetedsimple
-
had closetedperfect
-
was closetingprogressive
-
were closetingprogressive
-
had been closetingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of closet
1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French, Middle French, equivalent to clos close (noun) + -et -et
Vocabulary lists containing closet
List 1
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Parton preferred to let her closet make the statements, while quietly building a kind of everybody-love-everybody progressivism that promoted equality and kindness while remaining mostly off-the-record.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
One time his mother went to clean his closet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
“At least it’s better than a piece of clothing sitting in someone’s closet and not being used at all.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
In the 12th-floor model unit, the steel framework has even been turned into closet shelving.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
I heard their conversation through the duct in my room, when I accidentally-on-purpose fell into my closet and my ear landed on it.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Elsewhere in the home, there is a large office space and two glamorous walk-in closets.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
The property also features a sizable media room, an expansive primary suite—with his-and-her closets and a spalike bathroom—and a playroom with its own stage and foam pit.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
I spent some of the newfound time poking in drawers, filing cabinets and closets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Now, they want to conquer our closets, too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
They opened closets and cupboards, but all were empty.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
The book’s first section is told in through Eddy’s journal entries as he describes the contentious rehearsals that bring together a group of closeted Kingstonians of different ages, classes and levels of sexual candor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
We wanted to be mysterious and be closeted, and Katie was the one who encouraged us not to, and to just be ourselves.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The actors spent time forging the kind of intimate charge that could be felt in wordless glances between their closeted characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
“It kind of siphoned all of that pent-up, closeted stuff that you hold back, that you couldn’t freely express,” she said.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
But this envy-streaked pleasure Alice closeted, and never let the girl see how she admired those ready-for-bed-in-the-street clothes.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
That there exists so recent and clear an example of purposeful Hollywood closeting helps explain, to a certain extent, how these narratives can take hold.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2019
If nothing else, it’s smarter closeting strategy—people are going to get a lot more suspicious if every time they see him with you, he starts stammering and shoving you out of view.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2016
And because he is closeting up his doubts and fears, his subsequent eruptions into madness, when words abruptly morph into howls, have a harrowing logic.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2014
“We have no visibility, people are dying, and this whole world is just closeting everything.”
From Washington Post
No more closeting;, she could have one part of Old Chao, Janis and the children another.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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.
