Word.ws English Dictionary

closet cases

closet cases is the plural of closet case.

Meaning of closet case

Noun

closet case (plural closet cases)

  1. (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
    Synonyms:
    closet, closet queen
  2. (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

Questions about closet cases

What is closet cases the plural of?
Closet cases is the plural of closet case.

Words near closet cases in the dictionary

  1. closet audit
  2. closet audits
  3. closet auger
  4. closet augers
  5. closet case
  6. closet cases
  7. closet drama
  8. closet dramas
  9. closet hook
  10. closet hooks
  11. closet index

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: closet cases (page history and authors); 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.

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