family secret
Unspoken household truth
A family secret is information deliberately kept hidden from outsiders—and sometimes from certain family members themselves.
These range from minor embarrassments to serious matters: hidden affairs, undisclosed adoptions, criminal histories, or mental illness.
The phrase implies shared knowledge protected by unspoken agreement: The bankruptcy was a family secret for years.
Some family secrets span generations.
- skeletonInternal supportive framework
- skeleton in the closetShameful hidden past
- closetBuilt-in storage chamber
- dirty laundryEmbarrassing private matters
- whisperSpeech without full voice
hush · kept quiet · hidden · shame · buried · scandal · black sheep · inheritance · bloodline · blood relative · ancestor · silence · taboo · unspoken · betrayal · affair · adoption · legacy
- familymother, father, parents, siblings, parent
- secrecyconfidential, classified, hidden, hiding, concealment
- family dramasibling rivalry, kinship, parent-child, inheritance, estrangement
- family themesmother figure, father figure, parent, child, brother
- Gothic horrorghost story, haunted houses, Dracula, vampires, Frankenstein
- plot twistsplot twist, twist ending, surprise ending, unexpected turn, final reveal
family secretpublic knowledge
Facts anyone can access
open secret · public record · confession · full disclosure · public announcement
family secretcommon knowledge
Widely shared information
public information · open book · general knowledge · universal truth · household name
family secretbragging rights
Informal claim to superiority
family tradition · public celebration · birth announcement · wedding announcement · shared memory
family, secret, families, familial, familiar, familiarity, familiarize, familiarization, unfamiliar