air dirty laundry
Publicize private problems
To air dirty laundry is to make private troubles or embarrassing matters public.
The image is of hanging soiled clothes where everyone can see them.
Usually appears with a warning against it: Don't air your dirty laundry on social media.
The phrase suggests that some matters should stay within the family or organization.
Also *wash dirty laundry in public*.
- gossipInformal talk spreading rumors
- spill the beansReveal confidential information
- secretsConcealed information
- family secretsConcealed household truths
- skeleton in the closetShameful hidden past
scandal · expose · reveal · kiss and tell · confess · shameful · private · behind closed doors · public · wash · family · drama · tell-all · spill · betrayal · intimate · embarrassing · tabloid
- clothing idiomsfit like a glove, dressed to the nines, dressed to kill, wear the pants, caught with pants down
- laundrywashing machine, wash, dryer, clothes dryer, fold
- revealreveal, disclose, expose, unmask, unveil
air dirty laundrykeep mum
Remain silent intentionally
hush up · cover up · keep it in the family · hold one's tongue · bite one's tongue
airy, airily, airiness, aired, airing, dirty, dirt, dirtier, dirtiest