source code

noun

: a computer program in its original programming language (such as FORTRAN or C) before translation into object code usually by a compiler

Examples of source code in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the summer of 2025, before killing Direct File, the federal government published most of the program’s source code on GitHub, an online repository. —Binyamin Appelbaum, Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2026

These images hold an application’s source code and all the tools, dependencies, and libraries an application’s code needs to run as a container. —Felysha Walker, Miami Herald, 10 Apr. 2026

Last week, Fortune and others reported that Anthropic accidentally leaked the source code for Claude Code, publicly exposing around 500,000 lines of code across 1,900 files. —John Kell, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2026

As the Wall Street Journal reports, representatives issued copyright takedown requests for more than 8,000 copies and adaptations of the source code, which contains the AI firm’s underlying instructions on how to direct Claude Code. —Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 1 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for source code

• afterload
• episode
• internode
• microcode
• multimode
• nematode
• nesselrode
• overflowed
• overload
• overrode
• radioed
• torpedoed