curtain raiser
noun
a short play preceding a main play.
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curtain raiser
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curtain-raiser
curtain-raisernountheatre a short dramatic piece presented before the main play
curtain raiser
Americannoun
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a short play preceding a main play.
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any preliminary event or performance.
curtain-raiser
British
noun
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theatre a short dramatic piece presented before the main play
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any preliminary event
the debate was a curtain-raiser to the election
curtain raiser
Idioms
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.
See Examples For:
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
"It's really exciting. How great that the men are the curtain raiser when normally in most sports it's the other way around?" she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2022
Under new leadership, Paris Internationale continues to be the week’s must-attend curtain raiser for those looking for new or overlooked talent.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
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 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
When he faced Arsenal earlier this month in the Community Shield, English soccer’s traditional curtain-raiser, City lost 3-0.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
He’s disappointed his favorite book didn’t make the cut of our 101 best book club picks list, which served as the 2026 LA Times Festival of Books curtain-raiser.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Now a thrilling century in a tournament curtain-raiser.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
On Tuesday a protest blocked an avenue leading to the Estadio Azteca, where Mexico will face South Africa in the curtain-raiser.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
The latter play, in another translation, was put on as a curtain-raiser to a cinematograph entertainment at a London theatre in 1914; and had quite a pleasant reception from a thoroughly Philistine audience.
From Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series by Julius West
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.
