open the door

verb

To allow access or facilitate.

“his vacancy opened the door for young people who wanted a position”

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Meanings

verbopen the door (third-person singular simple present opens the door, present participle opening the door, simple past and past participle opened the door)

present singular third person opens the door · participle present opening the door · participle past opened the door · past opened the door

  1. idiomaticTo allow access or facilitate.

    his vacancy opened the door for young people who wanted a position

    2 more examples

    the court's decision today opens the door to future partisan manipulations

    The setlist didn’t stray from what McCartney played at his similarly intimate Santa Barbara Bowl gig last September, though “Flaming Pie” snuck into this concert’s final act, opening the door for a rousing back-to-back-to-back of “Jet,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” and “Get Back.”

    2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2026
  2. idiomaticUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see open, door.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
facilitate

Translations

Italian lasciare campo libero
  • lasciare campo liberoallow access or facilitate
Cite this entry
APA

open the door. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open%20the%20door

MLA

“open the door.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open%20the%20door. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “open the door,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/open%20the%20door.

Source: open the door on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.