curtain-raiser
noun
cur·tain-rais·er
ˈkər-tᵊn-ˌrā-zər 
1
: a short play usually of one scene that is presented before the main full-length drama
2
: a usually short preliminary to a main event
Examples of curtain-raiser in a Sentence
the opening of the performing arts center proved to be a curtain-raiser for the rebirth of the city's downtown
Recent Examples on the Web
Neither outfit managed to find the back of the net in their curtain-raiser and collide at the London Stadium, aiming to finally get off the mark.
—
Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
In the past 14 years, only once has the winner of the traditional season curtain-raiser gone on to lift the Premier League title (Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, who pipped Liverpool by a solitary point in 2018-19).
—James Pearce, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2025
The Commission’s proposal for the next budget period - which acts as a curtain-raiser for future negotiation and sets the likely tone for what will be the final budget - has already generated a lot of controversy and seen policy analysts scrambling to understand what’s coming.
—Frey Lindsay, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
This setting serves as a high-stakes curtain-raiser for the season.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Feb. 2025
The curtain-raiser for the 2025 tennis season.
—Matthew Futterman, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
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Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
In the past 14 years, only once has the winner of the traditional season curtain-raiser gone on to lift the Premier League title (Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, who pipped Liverpool by a solitary point in 2018-19).
—James Pearce, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2025
The Commission’s proposal for the next budget period - which acts as a curtain-raiser for future negotiation and sets the likely tone for what will be the final budget - has already generated a lot of controversy and seen policy analysts scrambling to understand what’s coming.
—Frey Lindsay, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
This setting serves as a high-stakes curtain-raiser for the season.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Feb. 2025
The curtain-raiser for the 2025 tennis season.
—Matthew Futterman, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Curtain-raiser.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curtain-raiser. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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