How to Use open-and-shut in a Sentence

open-and-shut

adjective
  • Lamar Jackson makes that an open-and-shut case.
    — Michael Cunningham, AJC.com, 6 Jan. 2026
  • For most leagues, this would be an open-and-shut case; a ban from the sport would never be challenged.
    — Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 19 June 2026
  • Her payments were spotty, the lawyer said, but overall, the case had been open-and-shut.
    — Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 18 Mar. 2026
  • The killings initially appeared to be an open-and-shut case of murder-suicide, at the hands of Jeremy’s sister, Sheila.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2025
  • So, it really wasn’t suspected … POWELL Sounds like an open-and-shut case.
    — Lacey Rose, HollywoodReporter, 20 May 2026
  • For what’s been characterized as an open-and-shut case, there are still a lot of questions about the slayings of Hollywood icon Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Especially after Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey, asked Tuesday afternoon to define Melvin’s status, declined to provide an open-and-shut answer.
    — Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'open-and-shut.' 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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