skeletons in the cupboard
Concealed family shame
Skeletons in the cupboard are shameful secrets from someone's past that they want to keep hidden.
The image is of literal bones concealed where guests won't look.
A political candidate might fear reporters discovering skeletons in the cupboard.
The American variant is skeletons in the closet.
- pastTime already gone
- dark pastShameful previous life
- secretiveInclined to conceal
- unmaskingRevealing what's hidden
- confessionsActs of revealing guilt
guilty conscience · clandestine · closet · family · family secrets · dirty laundry · buried secrets · scandal · public scandal · bones · cover-up · exposure · disgrace · ghosts · unveiling · dishonor · notoriety · ancestors
skeletons in the cupboardopen book
One easily understood
public knowledge · full disclosure · transparency · nothing to hide · out in the open
skeletons in the cupboardclean record
Absence of prior offenses
badges of honor · feathers in one's cap · points of pride · claims to fame · laurels
skeletons in the cupboardspotless record
clean record · good name · bona fides · squeaky clean · beyond reproach
skeleton, skeletons, skeletal, skeletally, cupboard, cupboards, boards, boarded, boarding