cold open

noun

variants or less commonly cold opening

plural cold opens also cold openings

: a scene of a film or television episode that precedes the title sequence or opening credits and that typically takes place in medias res

Cold opens are a bold move in any medium. When a movie or TV show drops the audience into its world without so much as a "here's the title," it speaks to a confidence that whatever's about to happen on screen is sufficient enough to immerse, intrigue, and otherwise hook them.—

Alexis Nedd

For fans of NBC's "The Office," the cold open from season five's "Casual Friday"—where Kevin spills his famous chili—is one of the show's most beloved scenes.—

Addy Bink

The film lost me right from the overacted cold opening …—

Alexa Chipman

Examples of cold open in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This week’s cold open made a very strong case for this year’s women’s NCAA tournament completely eclipsing the men’s side (more on eclipses later). —

Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2024 When the series kicked off its 49th season in October, Pete Davidson toed the line between humor and sincerity while addressing the violence overseas during his episode’s cold open. —

Shania Russell, EW.com, 31 Mar. 2024 Johansson showed up during yesterday’s cold open wearing a replica of Britt’s green blouse and cross necklace. —

Esther Zuckerman, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024 The latest lame cold opens from Studio 8H have little to say other than to make the same old Trump jokes with a slightly different cast than four years ago. —

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024 Saturday Night Live’s cold open delivered a stinging parody of Republican Sen. Katie Boyd Britt’s rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night. —

Rachel Pannett, Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2024 During a surprise appearance on the comedy sketch show's State of the Union cold open, the 39-year-old Oscar nominee poked fun at the Republican politician, who delivered her party's rebuttal to Biden's annual address to Congress on Thursday. —

Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 10 Mar. 2024 The crowd appears unsure of how to react to this cold open, but loves Kenan’s appearance. —

Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 10 Dec. 2023 The episode included a cold open featuring James Austin Johnson as former President Donald Trump, followed by Elordi discussing his Kissing Booth film franchise during the monologue. —

Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

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