a skeleton in the cupboard

Значение

an embarrassing fact from someone's past that they hide

Постыдная тайна из прошлого.

Примеры

1. 1Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard, and ours is Great-Uncle Harry's secret first wife.
2. 2Before the interview, the journalists searched for a skeleton in the cupboard but found nothing.
3. 3Gran's first marriage was a skeleton in the cupboard that nobody mentioned for fifty years.
4. 4The singer's old emails turned out to be a skeleton in the cupboard that ended his career.
5. 5Does the new manager have a skeleton in the cupboard, or is her past really that clean?

Грамматика

Исчисляемое: во множественном числе skeletons in the cupboard. В американском английском — a skeleton in the closet. Часто стоит после have.