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

Kayatta, who attended the open house at Jablonski’s invitation, said SCUSD had many students and families with high needs and that they couldn’t all be met. —Graham Womack may 9, Sacbee.com, 9 May 2026

There’s a good chance your local fire station will hold an open house, complete with fire equipment demos and maybe even free pancakes. —Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026

Potential homebuyers or people looking for ideas will enjoy going on a tour of open houses around Kansas City for this bi-yearly tour. —Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 7 May 2026

The open house is set to take place across two nights — August 12 and August 13. —Sarah Perkel, USA Today, 7 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