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Synonyms

curtain raiser

American  

noun

  1. a short play preceding a main play.

  2. any preliminary event or performance.

curtain-raiser British  

noun

  1. theatre a short dramatic piece presented before the main play

  2. any preliminary event

    the debate was a curtain-raiser to the election
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
curtain raiser Idioms  

  1. Preliminary event, as in This limited attack on the chairman is just a curtain raiser for the concerted effort to oust him. This term literally refers to a short play or skit presented before the main theatrical production. It began to be transferred to other preliminaries about 1940.

Etymology

Origin of curtain raiser

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

After the women opened the season on Saturday with their giant slalom on the Austrian glacier, the men battled poor visibility and welcome wintry weather in their traditional curtain raiser.

From Barron's • Oct. 26, 2025

Earlier, Manchester Thunder beat Surrey Storm 55-38 in the play-off match for third and fourth place, the curtain raiser to the Grand Final.

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2023

It’s an apt curtain raiser for a 1994-95 season in which newness and sameness glom together indistinguishably, but “thirtysomething” glistened from its inception with a seductive uniqueness that this latest series does not initially share.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 24, 2022

It’s also a symbolic curtain raiser for the postponed Olympics, and there is no room for error.

From Washington Times • Mar. 16, 2021

It had placed Archie at a disadvantage for the first time as assigner because Rollo had only been the curtain raiser, a bit of amusement Obie had arranged to enliven the proceedings.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.