wash one's dirty linen in public

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To publicly discuss or expose one's personal or private problems

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

thảo luận hoặc tiết lộ vấn đề hoặc vấn đề riêng tư của bản thân trước công chúng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to wash dirty laundry in a public place
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The couple should not wash their dirty linen in public

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “wash one's dirty linen in public” mean?

To publicly discuss or expose one's personal or private problems Literally: to wash dirty laundry in a public place

Is “wash one's dirty linen in public” formal or informal?

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