How to Use cold open in a Sentence

cold open

noun
  • Watch the full cold open below.
    — William Earl, Variety, 3 May 2026
  • Check out the entire cold open below.
    — Jack Dunn, Variety, 5 Oct. 2025
  • This week’s cold open touched on the ongoing war in Iran.
    — Maira Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2026
  • So, your standard 2025 cold open.
    — Andy Hoglund, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Dec. 2025
  • Last week’s cold open was divisive among many in the fanbase.
    — Andy Hoglund, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Feb. 2026
  • And this milestone was also addressed with this week’s cold open.
    — Katie Reul, Variety, 9 Apr. 2023
  • Watch the 2026 Oscars cold open above.
    — Anna Chan, Billboard, 15 Mar. 2026
  • See Fey’s entrance on the nostalgic hot cold open above.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 11 Oct. 2025
  • That whole opening, like cold open, was like a beautiful dance between the cast and the crew.
    — Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 7 June 2026
  • The series starts with a cold open featuring a guy bumping around in a dark, wet room of some sort.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 May 2024
  • Oh, to time-travel through these series cold opens with an apartment down payment in hand).
    — Glynnis MacNicol, Rolling Stone, 26 Jan. 2025
  • So how does Jason, a killer who appears only in the film’s cold open, rank so high?
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Kevin's chili actually makes an appearance in the show's cold open.
    — Greta Cross, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
  • This was a bad return to the show's political cold open, lame revolving door bits with no point of view.
    — Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 29 Sep. 2024
  • Indeed, that was the case on Saturday Night Live’s cold open tonight.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 2 May 2026
  • What was less evident was where the Lorne Michaels was going to go with its tone-setting cold open.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Tonight’s cold open features this tantalizing glimpse of two-on-one awkwardness.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 12 Feb. 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 Founding Fathers cold open in January was set up like this, too.
    — Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2025
  • Poehler was the episode’s host, and Fey also popped in during the night’s cold open playing Kristi Noem.
    — William Earl, Variety, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Harris dished advice to Maya Rudolph’s impersonation of her as part of the show’s cold open.
    — Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 3 Nov. 2024
  • The joke rightly gets an applause break from the studio audience — and makes everything else about the overlong cold open worth it.
    — Joe Berkowitz, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2024
  • Harris filmed the show's cold open as a surprise move in her campaign schedule, briefly diverting from battleground states.
    — Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Saturday Night Live decided to pivot right wing in their first post-election cold open.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
  • Coming off a room-temperature cold open tonight, SNL could choose to go for a cold closer.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 20 Dec. 2025
  • This cold open immediately sets the scene for where Ahsoka appears to be headed.
    — Megan McCluskey, Time, 23 Aug. 2023
  • 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
  • Based around the season’s cold open, the song harkens back to the timelessness of East Coast hip-hop and features Bumpy’s anthem.
    — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 11 June 2023
  • Might that have something to do with the episode’s cold open, which finds Oliver in the middle of a mental-health crisis at a longterm care facility?
    — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 22 Sep. 2025
  • The show kicked off on a tired note with a cold open that took on the last New York City mayoral debate, which at this point happened more than a week ago.
    — Charu Sinha, Vulture, 2 Nov. 2025

Some of 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.

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