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

Record Club pulls all of its data from the open-source music encyclopedia MusicBrainz. —Terrence O'Brien, The Verge, 23 May 2026

Bugs found faster The company has also used Mythos Preview to scan more than 1,000 open-source projects over the last few months. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 22 May 2026

On March 31, 2026, one of the most popular open-source packages, Axios, which is downloaded millions of times per week, was compromised. —Aqsa Taylor, Forbes.com, 20 May 2026

But the open-source tools available at the time were, in his telling, dangerously unguarded. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 20 May 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