open house

noun

1

: ready and usually informal hospitality or entertainment for all comers

2

: a house or apartment open for inspection especially by prospective buyers or tenants

Examples of open house in a Sentence

Westside High School will host an open house from 3 to 7 p.m. today, and all parents are invited to attend.

colleges holding open houses for prospective students

We held an open house last week in the hopes that someone would offer to buy our house.

They kept open house, and in the evenings neighbors would stop by to talk or play music.

They always kept an open house for visitors.

Recent Examples on the Web

The curious had an opportunity on April 25 to peek inside Turner Hall during an open house that marked 100 years in its current location. —Graham Womack may 2, Sacbee.com, 2 May 2026

The garden is also planning musical performances, nature walks, an herbarium open house, and two professor talks on Tongva basket weaving and the Clarkia plant. —Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2026

No need to worry about repairs, staging, open houses and negotiating. —Miami Herald, 1 May 2026

Hobart resident Alice Pawlowski came armed with a notebook filled with questions at Amazon’s data center community open house held at Hobart High School. —Deborah Laverty, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for open house

• boardinghouse
• charterhouse
• clearinghouse
• coffeehouse
• customhouse
• firehouse
• meetinghouse
• motherhouse
• packinghouse
• pilothouse
• powerhouse
• slaughterhouse

Kids Definition

open house

noun

: usually informal hospitality or entertainment for all comers