🗓️ Idiom: Open Doors (v)
💬 Meaning
- To create new opportunities or possibilities.
- To make it easier to start something or move forward, often in communication or relationships.
🧠 Example Sentences
- Learning a second language has opened many doors in my career.
- The cultural training opened doors for smoother teamwork across global offices.
- Understanding local customs can open doors when working with international clients.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from the image of physically opening a door to enter a new space. In English, it started to be used in the 1800s as a way to describe creating opportunities — as if you were letting someone into a new place or chance in life or work.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
Learning about Thai culture really __________ for our company’s expansion in Southeast Asia.
Answer
opened doors
2. Choose the correct meaning of “open doors”:
A) To close off opportunities
B) To stop a project
C) To create new opportunities
Answer
C) To create new opportunities
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“Getting to know the local language helped us start new business relationships.” → Change the sentence using: open doors
Answer
Learning the local language opened doors to new business relationships.