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

Acquisitions—such as Meta acquiring autonomous agent platform Manus and OpenAI acquiring open-source agent engine OpenClaw—demonstrate that investors and consumers value end-to-end task completion. — Pranjal Saxena, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026

Chinese companies' development of open-source AI in particular has added support to Beijing's international cooperation programs, such as the Global AI Governance Initiative and the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. — Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026

China’s Xi has called for the setting up of a global AI governance framework among Global South, while pitching China as a pioneer in establishing an open-source AI community. — E. Eduardo Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

This may be a reference to July's Hugging Face attack, where 700 OpenAI agents breached the security of the open-source AI platform, making 17,000 separate actions, according to the forensic logs. — Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 12 Sep. 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