Word.ws English Dictionary

openwashing

openwashing noun: the act of claiming something is open (without proprietary licensing) when it does not meet all the criteria of openness. Also the present participle and gerund of openwash.

Noun

openwashing (uncountable)

  1. The act of claiming something is open (without proprietary licensing) when it does not meet all the criteria of openness.
    • Evgeny Morozov (2013) recently took issue with the seemingly ubiquitous presence of “open” initiatives in contemporary culture and pointed to the reading of “openness into situations and environments where it doesn't exist” as acts of “openwashing.” Yet, as Morozov also argues, a consideration of...2014, Suzanne tamang, Gregory T. Donovan, “Introduction: Media and Methods for Opening Education”, in The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy, number 5
    • Via openwashing, commercial and private products are labelled as having a more open character despite failing to comply with the openness criteria established by the open movement. Openwashing practices can therefore be described as tainted, misleading and confusing.2015, Nicolai van der Woert, Robert Schuwer, Martijn Ouwehand, “Connecting Various Forms of Openness: Seeking a Stronger Value Proposition”, in Open and Online Education Trend Report

Also used as

openwashing is also the present participle and gerund of openwash.

Forms of openwashing

alternative formopen washing
alternative formopen-washing

Origin of openwashing

From open + -wash + -ing.

Questions about openwashing

What does openwashing mean?
Openwashing means the act of claiming something is open (without proprietary licensing) when it does not meet all the criteria of openness.
What part of speech is openwashing?
Openwashing is a noun.

Words near openwashing in the dictionary

  1. openture
  2. OpenType
  3. openwash
  4. openwashed
  5. openwashes
  6. openwashing
  7. openwork
  8. openwork stocking
  9. openwork stockings
  10. openworks
  11. OpenXPS

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: openwashing (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.

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