Word.ws English Dictionary

open-source

UK/ˈəʊpən ˌsɔːs//ˈoʊpən ˌsɔɹs/

open-source adjective: of or relating to software where the source code is freely available and licensed in a manner that permits modification and redistribution.

Adjective

open-source (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to software where the source code is freely available and licensed in a manner that permits modification and redistribution.
    • Linux is an open-source operating system.
    • ASP.NET MVC has been under an open-source license since the initial release, but it was just open-source code instead of a full open-source project.2014, Jon Galloway, Brad Wilson, K. Scott Allen, David Matson, Professional ASP.NET MVC 5, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 10
  2. Of or relating to digital resources made publicly available alongside their source files to enable their modification and redistribution.
    • open-source hardware (with editable CAD files)
    • open-source fonts
  3. (broadly) Describing any product whose composition or method of manufacturing is public knowledge and not proprietary.
    • open-source hardware (schematics provided for free)
    • open-source cola
  4. Relying on publicly available information (open sources).
    • open-source intelligence
    • The ramifications of disinformation spill on to the streets with tangible, often devastating real-world consequences. These processes were already under way in 2014, when I founded the open-source investigative group Bellingcat.2023 December 16, Eliot Higgins, “Moment of truth”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1

Verb

open-source (third-person singular simple present open-sources, present participle open-sourcing, simple past and past participle open-sourced)

  1. (transitive) To release the source code of, so as to permit modification and redistribution.
    • The big Unix company Sun Microsystems bought the code for StarOffice in 1999, and some time afterward they open-sourced as much of it as they could.2005, David Brickner, Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds

open-source meaning in Arabic

open-source in Arabic

Translations
مَفْتُوح الْمَصْدَرِ maftūḥ al-maṣdari

Antonyms of open-source

Forms of open-source

Adjective
alternative formopen source
alternative formopensource
Verb
third-person singular presentopen-sources
present participleopen-sourcing
past participleopen-sourced
pastopen-sourced

Origin of open-source

See open source.

Words formed from open-source

Questions about open-source

What does open-source mean?
Open-source means of or relating to software where the source code is freely available and licensed in a manner that permits modification and redistribution.
What is open-source in Arabic?
Open-source in Arabic is مَفْتُوح الْمَصْدَرِ (maftūḥ al-maṣdari). See Open-source meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is open-source?
Open-source can be an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce open-source?
Open-source is pronounced /ˈəʊpən ˌsɔːs/ (UK).

Words near open-source in the dictionary

  1. open-road
  2. open-shopper
  3. open-shoppers
  4. open-side
  5. open-sides
  6. open-source
  7. open-sourced
  8. open-sourceness
  9. open-sources
  10. open-sourcing
  11. open-textured

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: open-source (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-open source.wav.

Cite this entry: “open-source.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/open-source. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.