closet

Pluralclosets

Formsclosets, closeting, closeted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A small room in a home where you keep clothes, food, or other things.

   Like a big box built into the wall for keeping your things.

   She hung her coat in the closet by the front door.

   Dad keeps cans of soup in the kitchen closet.

   Similarcupboard, wardrobe

   Note
2. 2
   noun

   The situation of keeping it secret that you are gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

   Like wearing a mask so people cannot see who you really are.

   He stayed in the closet because he was afraid of what his friends would say.

   She finally came out of the closet and told her parents she had a girlfriend.

   Note
3. 3
   adjective

   Hiding the fact that you are gay or lesbian.

   For years he lived as a closet gay man in a small town.

   She was a closet lesbian until college, when she began dating openly.

   Similarsecret, hidden, covert

   Oppositeout, open

   Note
4. 4
   nouncountable

   A cabinet that someone keeps for their own private use.

   In old palaces, a king might keep his rarest treasures in a private closet that only he could open.

   The queen kept her letters and jewels in her own closet, where no one else could look.

   Similarcabinet

   Note
5. 5
   nounfigurativelycountable

   A secret place where something is hidden, as in the saying 'a skeleton in the closet.'

   Every family has a few skeletons in the closet.

   He kept his money worries in the closet, even from his wife.

   Similarcupboard

   Note
6. 6
   noun

   The state of keeping something about yourself hidden from other people.

   He kept his love of poetry in the closet for years.

   She finally came out of the closet as a country music fan.

   Similarsecrecy, hiding

7. 7
   adjective

   Kept secret and not shown or told to other people.

   My dad is a closet fan of old cartoons.

   Closet smokers often carry mints to hide the smell from their families.

   Similarsecret, covert, hidden, undercover, private

   Oppositeopen, avowed, overt, declared

8. 8
   nouncountable

   Any small room, or a small room to the side of a bigger one.

   Granny's cottage near Galway had a kitchen, a bedroom and a tiny closet where my cousin slept.

   In the old house in Glasgow, the closet off the front room had just enough space for a desk and a chair.

   Similarchamber, cubbyhole

   Note
9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To take someone into a private room to talk without other people listening.

   The coach closeted the team captain in his office to talk about the problem.

   The principal would closet each teacher in turn to hear their worries.

   Similarsequester, seclude, shut

   Note
10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To shut someone or something away in a small room or hidden place.

    She closeted the puppy in the laundry room while the guests arrived.

    The guards would closet the prisoner in a tiny cell for days.

    Similarhide, conceal, confine, lock, shut

    Note
11. 11
    verbtransitive

    To take someone to a private place to question them in secret.

    The detectives closeted the witness in a back room and asked her questions for an hour.

    The king would closet each lord alone to ask for his support.

    Similarbuttonhole, corner

    Note
12. 12
    nounslangabbreviationclipping

    Short for closet case. An often insulting slang name for someone who hides being gay.

    Note

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