skeleton in the cupboard
(UK, idiomatic) A shameful secret.
Definitions
(UK, idiomatic) A shameful secret.
‘I expect all families have some skeletons in the cupboards,’ Robina said with a smile of understanding. ‘I know I have some relatives who embarrass me, but you have done nothing to be ashamed of that I can see.’
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- skeleton in the house86%
(UK, dated) A shameful secret.
- skeleton in the house84%
A British variation of the familiar idiom 'skeleton in the closet' (or cupboard), referring to a shameful family secret — something embarrassing, scandalous, or morally compromising that people prefer to keep hidden. The 'house' variant was more common in 19th and early 20th century British usage before 'closet' became dominant. The image is of a hidden skeleton: a secret so dark it metaphorically never rots away and can resurface at any moment to cause embarrassment or scandal.
- broom cupboard61%
(UK) A cupboard in which cleaning materials and associated equipment, such as brooms, are stored.
- closet case59%
(slang, idiomatic) A person who is shunned, ignored, or considered to be an embarrassment.
- laugh in one's sleeve59%
(US, Canada, idiomatic) to laugh in secret or to oneself, usually gloatingly.