closet case

closet case noun: a person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity.

Noun

closet case (plural closet cases)

(idiomatic, slang) A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity.
- Even self-styled liberated gay and straight people sometimes call outspoken bigots "closet cases".1979 December 15, Rick Hillegas, “Workers World Party (response)”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 21, page 5
- Now this one portrays the drill instructor as an extreme/suicidal if he ever admits it closet case.1986 February 25, Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027, “More on Stereotypes/gays in Film”, in net.motss (Usenet)
Synonyms:

closet, closet queen
(idiomatic, slang) A person who is shunned, ignored, or considered to be an embarrassment.
- Closet case at Delta Upsilon is shunted to the basement....1956 September 24, Frank Scherschel, Gary Villet, “Fraternity Rushing”, in LIFE Magazine, page 144
- Under-expectation on the part of the parent... can range from a complete refusal by the father to accept the fact that the child does exist (a closet case)...1964, Paul H. Babbitt, “APPRAISAL OF PARENTAL ATTITUDES”, in Journal of Rehabilitation, volume 30, number 1, pages 20–21

plural	closet cases

From closet + case. First use appears c. 1946 in the Washington Post.

What does closet case mean?: Closet case means a person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity.
What part of speech is closet case?: Closet case is a noun.
What is the plural of closet case?: The plural of closet case is closet cases.

Adapted from Wiktionary: closet case (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-closet case.ogg.

Cite this entry: “closet case.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/closet_case. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.