Word.ws English Dictionary

skeleton in one's cupboard

skeleton in one's cupboard is the alternative form of skeleton in the cupboard.

Meaning of skeleton in the cupboard

Noun

skeleton in the cupboard (plural skeletons in the cupboard or skeletons in the cupboards)

  1. (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.[…]’2005, Eileen Knowles, chapter 11, in Roses for Robina (Linford Romance Library), large print edition, Leicester, Leicestershire: Linford, published 2017, →ISBN, page 292

Forms of skeleton in one's cupboard

pluralskeletons in one's cupboard
pluralskeletons in one's cupboards

Questions about skeleton in one's cupboard

What is skeleton in one's cupboard the alternative form of?
Skeleton in one's cupboard is the alternative form of skeleton in the cupboard.

Words near skeleton in one's cupboard in the dictionary

  1. skeleton crews
  2. skeleton flower
  3. skeleton grip
  4. skeleton grips
  5. skeleton in one's closet
  6. skeleton in one's cupboard
  7. skeleton in one's house
  8. skeleton in the closet
  9. skeleton in the cupboard
  10. skeleton in the house
  11. skeleton key

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: skeleton in one's cupboard (page history and authors); skeleton in the cupboard (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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