open-and-shut

[oh-puhn-uhn-shuht]

adjective

1. immediately obvious upon consideration; easily decided.

   an open-and-shut case of murder.

open-and-shut

adjective

1. easily decided or solved; obvious

   an open-and-shut case

Word History and Origins

Origin of open-and-shut¹

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Idioms and Phrases

Simple, straightforward, easily solved, as in With three eyewitnesses, the prosecutor said this case was open and shut. This term suggests that one has immediate access to the facts of a situation. [c. 1840]

Example Sentences

Our reviewer, Steven Poole, wrote that “the book proceeds like a convoluted murder mystery, introducing one suspect after another in what seems like an open-and-shut case, before puncturing the promising narrative with an inconvenient fact.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But what seemed like an open-and-shut case dragged on for nearly a decade.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The saddest of operas, “Ainadamar” is not a tragic opera, not an opera of open-and-shut endings, but one of open-ended endings.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

This is not an open-and-shut case despite how many people would like to believe it is.

Read more on Salon

Sounds like an open-and-shut case, but German director Ilker Çatak argues that the rules of integrity are as flimsy as the rules of surviving a horror flick.

Read more on Los Angeles Times