leave the door open

English

Verb

leave the door open (third-person singular simple present leaves the door open, present participle leaving the door open, simple past and past participle left the door open)

1. (idiomatic, often with for or to) To maintain the possibility of something happening in the future.
   • 2023 July 26, Jeanna Smialek, “Fed Raises Rates After a Pause and Leaves Door Open to More”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Federal Reserve officials raised interest rates to their highest level in 22 years and left the door open to further action as they continued their 16-month campaign to wrestle inflation lower by cooling the American economy.

   • 2023 August 12, “Harry Kane joins Bayern Munich and leaves door open for Spurs return”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Harry Kane has left the door open for a return to Tottenham after completing his £100m move to Bayern Munich.

Further reading

• “leave the door open for”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “leave the door open”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.