closet Hear it!

closet Definition

closet (kläz′it)

noun

  1. a small room or cupboard for clothes, household supplies, linens, etc.
  2. a small, private room for reading, meditation, etc.
  3. a monarch's private chamber as for prayer or conference
  4. water closet
  5. a state of secrecy, esp. concerning personal homosexual orientation or activity: used with the

Etymology: OFr, small enclosure, dim. of clos: see close

adjective

  1. private, secret, or clandestine a closet drinker
  2. marked by theorizing; speculative closet thinking

transitive verb

to shut up in a private room for confidential discussion to closet oneself with councilors

closet Synonyms

closet

n.

wardrobe, cabinet, recess, cupboard, locker, receptacle, safe, vault, cold storage, storeroom, pantry, larder, clothespress, press, armoire, clothes room, walk-in, cloakroom, checkroom, ambry; see also room 2.

closet Usage Examples

Object

    Preposition: on

    • floor: The house has a solid garage, corridor, a kitchen and a closet on the ground floor.

    Adjective modifier

    • walk-in: Even the third bedroom has an oversized walk-in closet.
    • dark: At SPEAK we have been honest about our past, we haven't been hiding past acts in some deep dark closet.
    • large: It is true that I paint now in a larger closet: much, much larger, with many lights.
    • small: The bathroom looked liked it had been crammed into a small closet.

    Modifies a noun

    • flange: The water leaves the filter through a closet flange in the side of a barrel.
    • homosexuality: Mark If homophobia is a sign of closet homosexuality, is arachnophobia a sign of being a spider in a closet?
    • compartment: These shall be located in or adjacent to the water closet compartments.
    • racist: And as for ' closet racists ' , piffle!
    • queen: I think the right term for this is being a closet queen.

    Modifying Another Word

    • away: Their advanced capabilities would certainly be of immeasurable benefit to Allied armed forces, but they remain closeted away.

    Noun used with modifier

    • broom: Pagans have been in the " broom closet " for centuries.
    • wiring: These wiring closets were installed along side the existing token ring patching frames.
    • linen: A woman calls asking where her linen closet went.
    • thy: The admonition of Christ, " Enter into thy closet and shut thy door, " was faithfully followed in His own life.
    • earth: There is an earth closet with doors for each six tenants.
    • water: We cleared out lots of modern refuse from a wartime water closet.

    Preposition: with

    • door: There is an earth closet with doors for each six tenants.
closet Quotes

And still she slept an azure-lidded sleep, In blanched linen, smooth, and lavendered, While he from forth the closet brought a heap Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd; With jellies soother than the creamy curd, And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon; Manna and dates, in argosy transferred From Fez; and spiced dainties, every one, From silken Samarcand to cedared Lebanon.

—Keats,John

They shut me up in Proseö As when a little girl They put me in the Closetö Because they liked me'still'.

—Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

—Bible (NewTestament)