dirty linen
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of dirty linen
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
Another complication for your friend: The probate process is public, the legal equivalent of washing your dirty linen in the front yard.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
She added that "there's a limit to what you can do" from outside cabinet and "what I don't think members want is for us to be airing our dirty linen in public".
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2025
"It is still very much a work in progress. An awful lot has been said between the two. So much dirty linen has been put out in the public, so to speak."
From Fox News ● Jul. 2, 2021
Don’t wash your dirty linen in a watched pot.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 2, 2019
The large woman was apologetic, as though it embarrassed her for a stranger to see Mississippi’s dirty linen.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
