Skeleton in the Closet (idiom)
2016.10.25
Meaning:
It’s Halloween time! So the idiom ‘Skeleton in the Closet’ seems timely. A ‘skeleton in the closet’ means ‘a dark secret’. So of course it has a negative nuance! Closets are places where we hide things – and skeletons are things that nobody would like to find! The full expression is often ‘Everyone has a skeleton in the closet’; this means, every person has done shameful, bad things in their past that they are trying to hide. We can also say ‘He/She has too many skeletons in his closet!’. This means he/she has done a lot of bad things that he/she doesn’t want people to know about.
Example:
A: You’re really clever! You should be a politician.
B: No! I have too many skeletons in the closet. The media would destroy me.
A: Oh, everyone has a skeleton in the closet.
Talking Point(s):
Do you think everyone really has a skeleton in the closet?