Idiom
Skeleton in the closet
A skeleton in the closet is a secret from someone's past that would cause shame or embarrassment if people found out.
How people use it
People use it for embarrassing or shameful facts that a person, family or organization keeps hidden: Every family has a few skeletons in the closet. It is informal and often used lightly, but it can also refer to serious secrets. The usual verb is have, and the plural skeletons in the closet is very common. In British English, the usual form is skeleton in the cupboard. It does not refer to Halloween decorations or real bones.
Also said: skeleton in the cupboard, skeletons in the closet.
Examples
- Before the club picked a new treasurer, members joked about checking for skeletons in the closet.
- Grandma's skeleton in the closet turned out to be failing her driving test five times.
- My British aunt says every old family has a skeleton in the cupboard.
Where it comes from
The phrase was in use in Britain by the mid-1800s, usually as skeleton in the cupboard, and the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray used it in the 1850s. The image is a hidden body, the worst kind of secret to keep. A popular theory says it comes from doctors hiding skeletons used for study, but there is no clear evidence for this.
Check yourself
1. If someone has a skeleton in the closet, what do they have?
Answer: An embarrassing secret from the past. A skeleton in the closet is a hidden secret that could cause shame.
2. What is the usual British form of this idiom?
Answer: Skeleton in the cupboard. British English usually says skeleton in the cupboard.
Similar idioms
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