skeleton in the closet

Cultural  

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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skeleton in the closet Idioms  

1. 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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Example Sentences

As much as he tried to find that one skeleton in the closet to explain it all, he couldn’t.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2024

“There’s some kind of big, big skeleton in the closet here.”

From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2021

The narrative is almost old hat at this point: Of course the DNA test uncovered some skeleton in the closet.

From Slate • Oct. 4, 2019

They face significant financial burdens, but they also face being stigmatized from colleagues who wonder what skeleton in the closet they are running from.

From Washington Times • Jun. 9, 2014

The family has its "skeleton in the closet," social groups avoid the public "washing of dirty linen"; the community banishes from consciousness, if it can, its slums, and parades its parks and boulevards.

From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra