"closet case" meaning in All languages combined

See closet case on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: En-au-closet case.ogg Forms: closet cases [plural]
Etymology: From closet + case. First use appears c. 1946 in the Washington Post. Etymology templates: {{com|en|closet|case}} closet + case Head templates: {{en-noun}} closet case (plural closet cases)
  1. (slang) A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity. Tags: slang Synonyms: closet queen
    Sense id: en-closet_case-en-noun-aGz1FVWn
  2. A person who is shunned, ignored, or considered to be an embarrassment.
    Sense id: en-closet_case-en-noun-fWHBmjkC Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Finnish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 30 70 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 17 83 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 25 75
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (gay person who pretends to be heterosexual): skabsbøsse [common-gender] (Danish), kaappihomo (Finnish)
Disambiguation of 'gay person who pretends to be heterosexual': 53 47

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "closet",
        "3": "case"
      },
      "expansion": "closet + case",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From closet + case. First use appears c. 1946 in the Washington Post.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closet cases",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "closet case (plural closet cases)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1979 December 15, Rick Hillegas, “Workers World Party (response)”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 21, page 5:",
          "text": "Even self-styled liberated gay and straight people sometimes call outspoken bigots \"closet cases\".",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986 February 25, Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027, “More on Stereotypes/gays in Film”, in net.motss (Usenet):",
          "text": "Now this one portrays the drill instructor as an extreme/suicidal if he ever admits it closet case.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity."
      ],
      "id": "en-closet_case-en-noun-aGz1FVWn",
      "links": [
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "conceal",
          "conceal"
        ],
        [
          "denies",
          "deny"
        ],
        [
          "sexuality",
          "sexuality"
        ],
        [
          "gender identity",
          "gender identity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "closet queen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Danish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1956 September 24, Frank Scherschel, Gary Villet, “Fraternity Rushing”, in LIFE Magazine, page 144:",
          "text": "Closet case at Delta Upsilon is shunted to the basement....",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1964, Paul H. Babbitt, “APPRAISAL OF PARENTAL ATTITUDES”, in Journal of Rehabilitation, volume 30, number 1, pages 20–21:",
          "text": "Under-expectation on the part of the parent... can range from a complete refusal by the father to accept the fact that the child does exist (a closet case)...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is shunned, ignored, or considered to be an embarrassment."
      ],
      "id": "en-closet_case-en-noun-fWHBmjkC",
      "links": [
        [
          "shun",
          "shun"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore"
        ],
        [
          "consider",
          "consider"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassment",
          "embarrassment"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-closet case.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a1/En-au-closet_case.ogg/En-au-closet_case.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/En-au-closet_case.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "gay person who pretends to be heterosexual",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "skabsbøsse"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "gay person who pretends to be heterosexual",
      "word": "kaappihomo"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Washington Post"
  ],
  "word": "closet case"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Danish translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "closet",
        "3": "case"
      },
      "expansion": "closet + case",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From closet + case. First use appears c. 1946 in the Washington Post.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closet cases",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "closet case (plural closet cases)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1979 December 15, Rick Hillegas, “Workers World Party (response)”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 21, page 5:",
          "text": "Even self-styled liberated gay and straight people sometimes call outspoken bigots \"closet cases\".",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1986 February 25, Ray EMD & S Admin 223-5027, “More on Stereotypes/gays in Film”, in net.motss (Usenet):",
          "text": "Now this one portrays the drill instructor as an extreme/suicidal if he ever admits it closet case.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "conceal",
          "conceal"
        ],
        [
          "denies",
          "deny"
        ],
        [
          "sexuality",
          "sexuality"
        ],
        [
          "gender identity",
          "gender identity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A person who conceals or denies their sexuality or gender identity."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "closet queen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1956 September 24, Frank Scherschel, Gary Villet, “Fraternity Rushing”, in LIFE Magazine, page 144:",
          "text": "Closet case at Delta Upsilon is shunted to the basement....",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1964, Paul H. Babbitt, “APPRAISAL OF PARENTAL ATTITUDES”, in Journal of Rehabilitation, volume 30, number 1, pages 20–21:",
          "text": "Under-expectation on the part of the parent... can range from a complete refusal by the father to accept the fact that the child does exist (a closet case)...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is shunned, ignored, or considered to be an embarrassment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "shun",
          "shun"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore"
        ],
        [
          "consider",
          "consider"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassment",
          "embarrassment"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-closet case.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a1/En-au-closet_case.ogg/En-au-closet_case.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/En-au-closet_case.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "gay person who pretends to be heterosexual",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "skabsbøsse"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "gay person who pretends to be heterosexual",
      "word": "kaappihomo"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Washington Post"
  ],
  "word": "closet case"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.