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 outage broke the thousands of websites that use the open-source CDN, leaving developers scrambling for a fix. —Emma Roth, The Verge, 12 Apr. 2024

With its open-source framework and unparalleled versatility, Indexify is poised to revolutionize the way developers harness the power of unstructured data in LLM applications. —Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024

Both are open-source, meaning they can be picked over for any potential vulnerabilities. —PCMAG, 11 Apr. 2024

But his digging kept turning up new evidence, and last week, Mr. Freund sent his findings to a group of open-source software developers. —Kevin Roose, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024

Previously, as the top investigative journalist for Bellingcat, the open-source investigation outlet, Grozez uncovered the identities of the Russian operatives who attempted to poison the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. —Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024

More than 1,600 aircraft, including civilian aircraft, experienced the interference — known as GPS jamming — in less than two days earlier this week, according to an open-source intelligence account that regularly tracks GPS interference. —Michael Dorgan, Fox News, 30 Mar. 2024

Perhaps to attract more users, Musk made Grok open-source earlier this month. —Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024

China venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee believes Chinese AI firms are well positioned to radically narrow the gap with U.S. competitors, in part because of their open-source and more energy-efficient approach. —Diane Brady, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1957, in the meaning defined at sense 2