open house

noun

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

Definition of open house

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

See open house defined for English-language learners

See open house defined for kids

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 of open house from the Web

Guerin College Prep will host an open house event with a twist on April 25.

— pioneer press, chicagotribune.com, "Escape room challenge will be part of Guerin College Prep's open house," 13 Apr. 2018
The public open house events are: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 12, Museum of the Oregon Territory, 211 Tumwater Drive, Oregon City 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 14, Ron Russell Middle School, 3955 S.E. 112th Ave.

— rosemarie stein, OregonLive.com, "Portland Metro Monday Traffic: More ODOT 'Value Pricing' (tolling) community meetings this week," 9 Apr. 2018
With the college football season concluded, he's had more time to get a grasp of things, scheduling time for meetings, open houses and private home showings.

— jack flemming, latimes.com, "Matt Leinart’s journey from finding open receivers to open houses," 6 Apr. 2018
Gardner is charged with holding an open house party and possession of marijuana, both misdemeanor charges.

— thomas novelly, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville man accused of hosting spring break house party in Destin for high schoolers," 5 Apr. 2018
An invitation-only open house was held on Thursday, allowing media, donors and healthcare professionals to tour the new facility, which will open to the public on April 16.

— emily sorensen, Pomerado News, "Gold Family Health Center opening soon," 4 Apr. 2018
Merriam will hold open houses for residents to share feedback on May 9 and June 21 at City Hall.

— traci badalucco, kansascity, "Council approves construction contract for Merriam’s new $30 million community center | The Kansas City Star," 17 Mar. 2018
In January, more than 100 people visited the center for an open house celebration of renovation work done for free by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

— Anchorage Daily News, "3 men arrested in Illinois charged with Minnesota mosque bombing," 14 Mar. 2018
To ease newcomers into the experience, Brookfield Zoo will host three open house events of the Hamill Family Play Zoo's new features, on March 17, April 12 and April 22.

— donna vickroy, Daily Southtown, "Brookfield Zoo seeks to be more inclusive to those with disabilities, special needs," 9 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'open house.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of open house

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

OPEN HOUSE Defined for English Language Learners

open house

noun

Definition of open house for English Language Learners

: an event in which an organization (such as a school or company) invites the public to visit in order to see the things that happen there
: an event in which anyone who is interested in buying a particular house, apartment, etc., is invited to go inside and look at it
: a home or other place in which guests or visitors are welcome