closeted

adjective

clos·​et·​ed ˈklä-zə-təd How to pronounce closeted (audio)
ˈklȯ-
: closet entry 3 sense 3
a closeted gay man

Examples of closeted in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Within a year, Texas authorities pinned the crime on a closeted Apache man, James Harry Reyos, even though Reyos had an alibi for the night of the killing and wasn’t in Odessa or even in Texas at the time of Father Patrick Ryan’s slaying. Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 June 2025 Created by Benito Skinner, Overcompensating follows the coming-of-age story of Benny (played by Skinner), a closeted football star from Idaho, who heads to college in hopes of finding the right friends, some possible romance and ultimately himself in the process. Jeff Conway, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025 The breakout success of Bechdel’s 2008 memoir, Fun Home, about her closeted father’s suicide, seems only to have buttressed her sense of herself as a navel-gazer. Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 16 June 2025 In the series, Skinner plays closeted jock, Benny Scanlon, who’s trying to navigate his freshman year of college. Vincent Perella, IndieWire, 2 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for closeted

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of closeted was in 1969

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Cite this Entry

“Closeted.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/closeted. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.

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