open-source

adjective

ˈō-pən-ˈsȯrs 

1

a

of software : having the source code freely available for possible modification and redistribution

an open-source operating system

b

: of, relating to, or promoting open-source software

the open-source movement/community

Instead, they opted for the open-source model, in which computer code is openly shared, allowing programmers to modify, improve and fix the software.

—Steve Lohr

2

a

: publicly available for use by the community at large

open-source images

The team uses open-source materials such as obituaries in local newspapers and cemetery visits for its count.

—Brendan Hoffman

b

: relating to or utilizing information that is publicly available

an open-source analysis

Since the advent of the internet, social media and smartphones, open-source intelligence has undergone a revolution as people willingly and publicly post vast amounts of information online. Actors outside of the traditional intelligence community have begun to take notice.

—Nick Waters

Examples of open-source in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The company also has open-source tools that can help with building robot applications, similar to Google's approach with Android. —Jennifer Elias, CNBC, 28 Feb. 2026

The solution proposed by Wang and Cong’s team is an open-source platform and hardware kit that lets AI see what scientists see. —Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 27 Feb. 2026

That was simply a matter of getting the open-source Stockfish chess engine to run on a Raspberry Pi minicomputer. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 26 Feb. 2026

The silence stood out at a moment when agent-style tools like Claude Code, Codex, and the viral open-source OpenClaw were dominating the conversation. —Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 26 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for open-source

• counterforce
• intercourse
• nonrecourse
• reinforce
• watercourse
• bourse
• coarse
• course
• force
• gorse
• hoarse
• horse