A skeleton in the closet is a shameful secret from the past. Every family has a skeleton in the closet.
The British form is a skeleton in the cupboard, and the two mean exactly the same. A skeleton in the closet is only frightening while it stays hidden.
1nounskeleton in the closetA shameful secret from the past.
“The biography turned up one skeleton in the closet after another.”
skeleton in the closet is a phrase.
Practised in Idioms