How to Use closeted in a Sentence

closeted

adjective
  • In the midst of all of this, there was no hint that Weaver was a closeted gay man.
    — Roxanne Roberts, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Feb. 2021
  • Many closeted men need liquid or powdered courage to act on their feelings.
    — Zachary Zane, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2023
  • Homophobia, and the need to stay closeted, rears its head too.
    — Brian Lowry, CNN, 19 June 2020
  • The movie touches on real-life issues that face athletes in the closeted world of sports.
    — David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 June 2018
  • Cohn, who is gay, turns his own closeted existence into a form of power.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 20 May 2024
  • Some folks were of the closeted fandom variety, while others were just killing time on their lunch breaks.
    — Leslie Richin, Billboard, 9 Feb. 2018
  • Even my work as a closeted man was still about talking about these little tender pockets of things that aren’t talked about.
    — Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 13 May 2022
  • There’s a reason that actors are told by their agents or whoever to remain closeted.
    — Wilson Chapman, Variety, 9 June 2022
  • At the time, the country star was in a loving (but closeted) relationship with a man.
    — Hanna Flanagan, PEOPLE.com, 4 June 2019
  • Some have suggested that clues and codes in his play suggest the playwright was a closeted Catholic.
    — Anthony D. Baker, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2021
  • O’Callaghan played six seasons in the NFL as a closeted gay man.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 14 Oct. 2019
  • In many gay dramas, the closeted man is presented as the source of greatest danger to his comrades in arms.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 23 Jan. 2018
  • The breakout pair play closeted pro hockey players that are rivals on the ice who carry out a secret fling away from the rink.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
  • One was from a closeted Catholic priest inspired to confide in O’Callaghan.
    — Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, 21 June 2017
  • Throughout, Uglow patiently traces the contours of a closeted gay man’s life.
    — Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Tyler takes aim at the masks people wear to hide from their true selves, evoking a middle-class gangster and a closeted religious zealot.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2024
  • For a closeted kid in the '90s, AIM was like a crawlspace from your home into a gay bar.
    — Andrew Richdale, GQ, 15 Dec. 2017
  • For Gloria Carter, a closeted gay black woman with four kids, life was not horrible.
    — Felice León, The Root, 6 May 2018
  • Imagine what seeing that flag on our military bases in Afghanistan must have meant for closeted Afghans.
    — Lz Granderson, The Mercury News, 29 Mar. 2024
  • Johnny got engaged to their old closeted gym teacher, Coach Craft (more on that in a second).
    — Benjamin Rosenstock, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2021
  • Ed Koch is a closeted jerk; Brooke Astor brings carnations to a grave.
    — Mike Hale, New York Times, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Elliot Page has opened up about some of the darker days of navigating fame as a closeted actor.
    — Jessica Wang, EW.com, 1 June 2022
  • Unbeknownst to anyone at the firm, Norman was a closeted gay man — a fact that comes out at his funeral.
    — Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023
  • Bloys reveals that much of his wit comes from growing up young, closeted and gay in the steel town of Bethlehem, Pa.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 22 Feb. 2023
  • If Bill Rusher was a closeted gay man, he was tucked back there in the far corner, next to his grandfather’s golf clubs.
    — Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 13 May 2025
  • Fellowes recycles too many of his favorite archetypes, from the closeted gay couple to the scheming servant.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Halford lived for years as a closeted gay man in the simultaneously macho and camp world of heavy metal.
    — Catherine Bray, Variety, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Joe, who grew up a closeted teen in Kansas City facing abuse by his father, hits the road hitchhiking.
    — Caroline Killilea, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
  • The actors spent time forging the kind of intimate charge that could be felt in wordless glances between their closeted characters.
    — Jen Yamato, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2026
  • Or, rather, Jennifer is the victim of Needy’s thirst for affirmation as a way to stay closeted in high school.
    — Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 18 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'closeted.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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