HOW TO PRONOUNCE
Open Sesame
American English · Video pronunciation
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does Open Sesame mean?
phrase
- open up (especially referring to doors)
- Alternative form of open sesame.
noun
- Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
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In the pages of books
See this word in context.
For most people the very name of 'Raphael' is like the 'Open Sesame' of the robber chief in the old story.
If one succeeded in passing the porter, which was not easy,—which was even nearly impossible for every one, for there was an open sesame!
More book examples (2)
It is the open sesame to their hearts and homes, and after that the house contains nothing too good to bestow upon the welcome guest.
All we have to do is to say--not "Open Sesame," like Ali Baba in the tale of the Forty Thieves--but some word or two which Madam Why will teach us, and forthwith a hill will open, and we shall walk in, and behold rivers and cascades underground, stalactite pillars and stalagmite statues, and all the wonders of the grottoes of Adelsberg, Antiparos, or Kentucky.