closeted

1. 1
   adjectivecolloquial

   Keeping one's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity hidden from others.

   She remained closeted throughout college, telling only her closest friend.

   Living closeted for so long took a heavy emotional toll on him.

   Oppositeout, open

   Note

   The figurative closet is behind this sense: the adjective is closet, meaning "a state of concealment," plus -ed, so a person described this way is still inside that hidden place. It can describe the identity as well as the person, as in "closeted lesbianism" in Gay Community (1979). Unlike the "confined" meaning, it is gradable, so someone can be more or less closeted.

2. 2
   adjective

   Kept secret rather than openly shown, said of some aspect of one's identity, tendency, or fondness.

   Among the faculty he counted several closeted admirers of pulp fiction.

   His closeted enthusiasm for astrology surprised everyone when it finally surfaced.

   Similarsecret, hidden, covert, private

   Oppositeopen, avowed, overt

   Note

   An extension of the sexual-identity meaning to any hidden taste or leaning. The noun it modifies names the thing kept secret. Cynthia Ozick's "a closeted Romantic" is someone who is a Romantic privately. Marshall Berman's "closeted, esoteric sufferings" are private sufferings. The word often carries a knowing echo of the older sense, so a hidden fondness reads like a small coming-out story.

3. 3
   adjective

   Confined, especially within a small or enclosed private space.

   The scholar spent the whole winter closeted in his study, surrounded by books.

   She remained closeted in her room for days, refusing to come out.

   Similarcloistered, secluded, sequestered, confined

   Note

   The confinement is often a private meeting rather than solitude. Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) has visitors "closeted up with the fortune-teller," and Herman Melville's Billy Budd finds the Foretopman "closeted there" with the Captain and Claggart. Use "closeted with" for company and "closeted in" for the room. It is not comparable, so nobody is more closeted in a study.

4. 4
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of closet.

   The king closeted himself with his ministers to settle the crisis.

   For weeks she closeted herself in the lab, emerging only for meals.

   Note

   This verb comes from a separate line from the identity adjectives. It goes back to closet as a private inner room, and to shutting someone away there for talk or questioning. It always takes an object, often a reflexive one, and "closeted with" names the company. The t is not doubled. A perfect such as "had closeted himself" uses have, and a passive such as "was closeted" uses be.

5. 5
   adjective

   Sheltered and protected, kept apart from harsh or worldly experiences.

   Growing up closeted from hardship, she struggled when she first lived on her own.

   His closeted upbringing left him unprepared for the rough edges of city life.

   Similarsheltered, protected, cloistered, cocooned, insulated

   Oppositeexposed

   Note

   Here the enclosure keeps the world out instead of keeping a person in. The usual construction is "closeted from," followed by whatever is shut out. Charles Irving told the House of Commons in 1985, in Hansard, that his Cheltenham constituents were "somewhat closeted from" the harsh realities of big cities. It fits comfortable, insulated lives, not locked doors. That difference is what separates it from the "confined" meaning.

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