Word.ws English Dictionary

curtain-raisers

curtain-raisers is the plural of curtain-raiser.

Meaning of curtain-raiser

Noun

curtain-raiser (plural curtain-raisers)

  1. (performing arts) In a theater, an initial play, musical performance, etc., which precedes the main performance.
    • [H]e had tried all kinds: comedy, tragedy, prose and verse, the light curtain-raiser, the short sharp drama, the bourgeoisrealistic and the lyrical-romantic.1910, Edith Wharton, “The Bolted Door”, in Tales of Men and Ghosts
    Synonyms:
    warm-up act
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) A prelude or introduction to an activity or thing.
    • It is my opinion that your part in the affair is only a curtain-raiser to graver things.1901, Harold MacGrath, chapter 7, in The Puppet Crown
    Synonyms:
    preamble, prologue

Questions about curtain-raisers

What is curtain-raisers the plural of?
Curtain-raisers is the plural of curtain-raiser.

Words near curtain-raisers in the dictionary

  1. curtain twitchers
  2. curtain wall
  3. curtain walls
  4. curtain-raise
  5. curtain-raiser
  6. curtain-raisers
  7. curtain-sider
  8. curtain-siders
  9. curtain-twitcher
  10. curtain-twitchers
  11. curtained

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: curtain-raisers (page history and authors); curtain-raiser (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “curtain-raisers.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/curtain-raisers. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.