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

Valkyrie won’t officially open until late October, but the public can get a sneak peek of the facility at its open house on Saturday, July 25. — Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 25 July 2026

Several hundred community members crowded an open house Thursday to hear about plans by ChatGPT’s maker, OpenAI, to build a $20 billion data center campus at an industrial park outside Savannah. — Adam Van Brimmer, AJC.com, 24 July 2026

The updates came during an open house event organized by the city at Sacramento Valley Station. — Sacbee.com, 24 July 2026

What many homeowners don’t realize is that attracting that buyer begins long before the first open house or showing. — Heartland Mls®, Kansas City Star, 22 July 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