closet

[ kloz-it ]

noun

1. a small room, enclosed recess, or cabinet for storing clothing, food, utensils, etc.
2. a small private room, especially one used for prayer, meditation, etc.
3. 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.

4. water closet.

adjective

1. private; secluded.
2. suited for use or enjoyment in privacy:

   closet reflections; closet prayer.

3. engaged in private study or speculation; speculative; unpractical:

   a closet thinker with no practical experience.

4. being or functioning as such in private; secret:

   a closet anarchist.

verb (used with object)

1. 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.

closet

/ ˈklɒzɪt /

noun

1. a small cupboard or recess
2. a small private room
3. short for water closet
4. modifier private or secret
5. modifier suited or appropriate for use in private

   closet meditations

6. modifier based on or devoted to theory; speculative

   a closet strategist

verb

1. tr to shut up or confine in a small private room, esp for conference or meditation

Word History and Origins

Origin of closet¹

1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French, Middle French, equivalent to clos close (noun) + -et -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of closet¹

C14: from Old French, from clos enclosure; see close ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see come out of the closet ; skeleton in the closet .

Example Sentences

She opened closet doors, snapped light switches, hunted for stains on the carpet.

From Washington Post

The officers returned fire, fatally shooting the man in the closet who was later identified as Green.

From Washington Post

So 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.

From Washington Post

If 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.

From Washington Post

Read on to learn about some of our favorite products plus a few tips for finding the right model for you and your closet.

From Popular-Science

And Duke was a closet Nazi getting exposed by an avalanche of reporting.

From The Daily Beast

One night in 2004, my college boyfriend called me from inside a closet in a north Toronto housing project.

From The Daily Beast

But once Kanye came along, Kim had to literally clean out her closet.

From The Daily Beast

When I was in the closet in my twenties, I considered suicide almost every day.

From The Daily Beast

It should be possible to make an interesting film in a closet with the door shut.

From The Daily Beast

I 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.

From Project Gutenberg

He implored Agnes to save him, and this she did by secreting him in a hidden closet behind the huge chimney.

From Project Gutenberg

But one chance he had, before supper was laid, of a word alone with his mother, in her own closet.

From Project Gutenberg

Every chest of drawers, and wardrobe, and closet in the house was ransacked, to find bed-quilts and blankets for the army.

From Project Gutenberg

The 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.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cabinet
• container
• locker
• room
• vault
• wardrobe