closed doors
Not open portals
Closed doors suggests privacy or secrecy—what happens when others can't see or hear.
Meetings behind closed doors exclude outsiders.
Negotiations behind closed doors happen away from public scrutiny.
The phrase implies deliberate concealment: The deal was struck behind closed doors.
Something done behind closed doors may be legitimate privacy or suspicious secrecy, depending on context.
- privacyFreedom from observation
- secrecyPractice of hiding information
- hush hushExtremely secret, concealed
- hiddenKept out of sight
- lockedFastened with a mechanism
shut · private · confidential · need to know · inner circle · meeting · executive session · exclusive · secret · hushed · concealed · barred · sealed · negotiations · private meeting · entrance · threshold · blocked
- secrecysecrecy, secret, secrets, confidential, classified
- family privacysecrets, boundaries, diary, bedroom, passwords
- Behind the Scenesbackstage, stunt double, body double, understudy, stand-in
- privacyprivacy, private, seclusion, confidentiality, solitude
- elite networksold boys network, old boys club, inner circle, inner circles, cronyism
- back channelsintermediaries, go-betweens, middlemen, proxies
closed doorsopen doors
Unblocked entrances
open access · free entry · welcome mat · unlocked doors · free admission
closed doorsin public
Before others' eyes
in the open · open session · on the record · full transparency · in plain sight
closed, doors, close, door, closer, closest, closely, closeness, closing