English · Idiom Attested

under a cloud

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Under suspicion.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Dưới sự nghi ngờ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

But after losing her only child, ‘ both she and her husband took to drink and dishonest dealing, and finally went back to South Africa under a cloud.’

But he ended it under the cloud of suspicion caused by a random test which confirmed he had taken drugs.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

in difficulties. An evident reference to shady circumstances.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

trong khó khăn, ám chỉ hoàn cảnh u ám

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Wind & clouds Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “under a cloud” mean?

Under suspicion.

Is “under a cloud” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.