curtain-raise

verb

To introduce; to prefigure, to set the stage for.

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Meanings

verbcurtain-raise (third-person singular simple present curtain-raises, present participle curtain-raising, simple past and past participle curtain-raised)

present singular third person curtain-raises · participle present curtain-raising · participle past curtain-raised · past curtain-raised

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo introduce; to prefigure, to set the stage for.

    The fall and humiliation of Algerian President Ahmed ben Bella were carefully timed to curtain-raise what Bella intended as his biggest show, the "Second Bandung Conference."

    1965, Herbert David Croly, The New Republic, volume 153
    1 more example

    Curtain-raised here, also, is Cromwell's eventual readiness to smash the monasteries and confiscate their revenue and property to finance the building of a modern state […]

    2010 Mar, Christopher Hitchens, “The Men Who Made England”, in The Atlantic

Origin

From curtain-raiser.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

curtain-raise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curtain-raise

MLA

“curtain-raise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curtain-raise. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “curtain-raise,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curtain-raise.

Source: curtain-raise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.