How to Use overture in a Sentence

overture

noun
  • The government has made a significant peace overture by opening the door to negotiation.
  • The soaring overture alone was enough to bring tears to the eyes.
    Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 10 Dec. 2021
  • Like the film, the score isn’t all grand overture romance.
    Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Aug. 2022
  • As the overture plays, the characters are all lined up on the stage.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 27 Aug. 2023
  • Injuries got in the way before the overture was played and the fun could begin.
    Dom Amore, courant.com, 27 Mar. 2022
  • And some observers have questioned the value of the overture so long after the fact.
    Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Zein promptly flew to Beirut and told Arafat about Casey’s overture.
    Jonathan Alter, The New Republic, 3 May 2023
  • But the overture reflects the growing pressure on Tuberville and even Democrats to end the impasse.
    David Sivak, Washington Examiner, 13 July 2023
  • The first track was an overture from the game Dragon Quest, according to a list of songs in the medley published by Nikkei.
    Marc Bain, Quartz, 23 July 2021
  • Caldwell made an overture to TK Records, and the label signed him within a couple of days.
    Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2023
  • But Bologne’s overture felt too brief in a concert that lasted nearly two hours.
    Jason McCool, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Jan. 2022
  • All their albums open with a song named after the band, acting as overture and moodboard.
    Brady Gerber, SPIN, 10 Oct. 2022
  • At the end of the roller coaster, the final feeling goes to that sober overture to logic, resounding as the bell tolls for planet Earth.
    Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2022
  • The crackle of needle on vinyl is silenced by a long, low heartbeat fading in and then a maelstrom of sound that serves as overture for the (dis)passion play to come.
    Ty Burr, Washington Post, 18 July 2023
  • In the time since, Gaetz has praised some of McCarthy’s overtures to the right flank of his caucus, highlighting concessions made to the holdouts.
    Ryan King, Washington Examiner, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The hold music is the overture before a rover lands on Mars, a space telescope is deployed, or a moon rocket launches (or not).
    Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2022
  • The aspirations of this performance will be signaled from first notes of the overture.
    New York Times, 13 Apr. 2022
  • Time will tell if the overture finds its way back into the open arenas and lawns of late-August classical music events.
    Lukas Schulze, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Aug. 2022
  • On its own, India does not have the resources to match China’s economic overtures to the global South.
    Happymon Jacob, Foreign Affairs, 25 Dec. 2023
  • But there’s room to grow, and Taiwan made a goodwill overture with its recent removal of barriers to U.S. beef and pork.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The title track kicks off with a tornado of high-speed shred that plays like the headbanger’s version of a classical overture.
    Hank Shteamer, SPIN, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Despite Rivers' reported overtures to make peace, Carson banned her from his show, and the two never spoke again.
    Nancy Mattia, Peoplemag, 7 June 2023
  • Now my day can start with, say, listening to Wagner…the overture to Tannhäuser.
    Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 22 Dec. 2023
  • Or perhaps, more to the point, something has been added—the gigantic closeup—which blunts the magic that wafts out to even the lousiest seats in the opera house after the lights go down and the first bars of the overture sound.
    Janet Malcolm, The New Yorker, 14 July 2022
  • But ah, that tuneful Jule Styne-Bob Merrill score — not to mention the iconic overture, which still gives chills even if there aren’t dozens of musicians in the pit.
    Frank Rizzo, Variety, 24 Apr. 2022
  • This was both an overture to foreign business and a kind of domestic glasnost.
    Han Zhang, New York Times, 3 Aug. 2023
  • In the subterranean world where many of those remaining in the city spend their nights, an overture of snores could be heard at a subway station on the city’s western side.
    Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Yet the overtures do help drive home the point that a wider war would be costly for all sides, and that in an extremity America will come to Israel's aid.
    Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Oct. 2023
  • Israel, unwilling to cede control of security in Gaza and the West Bank, has rejected such overtures.
    John Bacon, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024
  • The overture happened around the time executives from Apple and Masimo met in 2013, a moment that has become another focal point in the dispute between the two companies.
    Mark Gurman, Fortune, 27 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overture.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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