open
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈəʊ.pən/
ipa: /ˈɒ.pɪn/
ipa: /ˈoʊ.pən/
ipa: /ˈəʉ.pən/
rhymes: -əʊpən
Forms: form: more open
form: opener
topics: phonetics
phonology
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
form: most open
form: openest
topics: phonetics
phonology
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
Etymology: Adjective from Middle English open, from Old English open (“open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“up from under, over”).
Cognates
* Scots apen (“open”)
* Saterland Frisian eepen (“open”)
* West Frisian iepen (“open”)
* Dutch open (“open”)
* Low German open, apen (“open”)
* German offen (“open”)
* Danish åben (“open”)
* Swedish öppen (“open”)
* Norwegian Bokmål åpen (“open”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk open (“open”)
* Icelandic opinn (“open”)
 Compare also Latin supinus (“on one's back, supine”), Albanian hap (“to open”). Related to up.
Verb from Middle English openen, from Old English openian (“to open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opanōn, from Proto-Germanic *upanōną (“to raise; lift; open”), from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”, adjective). Cognate with Saterland Frisian eepenje (“to open”), West Frisian iepenje (“to open”), Dutch openen (“to open”), German öffnen (“to open”), Danish åbne (“to open”), Swedish öppna (“to open”), Norwegian Bokmål åpne (“to open”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic opna (“to open”). Related to English up.
Noun from Middle English open (“an aperture or opening”), from the verb. In the sports sense, however, a shortening of “open competition”.
Senses: examples: text: Come in – the door's open.
text: The ice has cleared and the channel is open again.
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Able to have something pass through or along it.
examples: text: The jewellery box was lying open.
text: Don't just stand there with your mouth open!
text: Along the street ran an open sewer.
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Not covered, sealed, etc.; having an opening or aperture showing what is inside.
examples: text: She greeted them with open arms.
text: The book was open at page 23.
text: an open hand; an open flower; an open (loosely woven) fabric
text: Each, with open arms, embraced her chosen knight.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: When the top sheet, blanket, and bedspread of a closed bed are turned back, or fanfolded, the closed bed becomes an open bed, or a bed ready to receive a patient or resident.
ref: 2005, Pamela J. Carter, Susan Lewsen, Lippincott's Textbook for Nursing Assistants, page 277:
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Not physically drawn together, folded or contracted.
examples: text: It was a large, open room.
text: Most of the site was occupied by huts, but there was an open area in the centre.
text: Soon we left the forest behind and we were out in open country.
text: The open road, the dusty highway[…]
ref: 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Of a space, free of objects and obstructions.
examples: text: an open fracture
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Resulting from an incision, puncture or any other process by which the skin no longer protects an internal part of the body.
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Unlocked or unlatched but not physically open.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
In a position allowing fluid to flow.
qualifier: gas and liquid flow
raw_tags: of valve or damper
examples: text: open sandwich
text: Starry food is fun to make. You can buy bright yellow American mustard (which isn’t too strong!) in squeezy bottles and pipe stars on to hot dogs and open burgers or sandwiches.
ref: 2001, Jennie Walters, Caz’s Birthday Blues (Party Girls), London: Hodder Children’s Books, →ISBN:
text: When the burgers are ready, place them on the toasted rolls with the romaine lettuce leaves and top with the salsa. Serve as open burgers.
ref: 2012, Jo McAuley, “[Meat and Poultry] Turkey Burgers with Spicy Salsa”, in Hamlyn QuickCook: Low Fat, London: Hamlyn, →ISBN, page 152:
text: Sunday morning in Wellow and we feast on open bagels with grilled ham, tomato and Swiss cheese, requested and highly praised.
ref: 2015, Michael Robotham, chapter 17, in Close Your Eyes, London: Sphere, →ISBN, page 133:
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Of a sandwich, etc.: composed of a single slice of bread with a topping.
synonyms: open-face
open-faced
examples: text: an open winter
text: He desires me to tell you that the present open weather induces him to accept Mr Vernon's invitation to prolong his stay in Sussex that they may have some hunting together.
ref: c. 1794, Jane Austen, Lady Susan:
glosses: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
Not of a quality to prevent communication, as by closing waterways, blocking roads, etc.; hence, not frosty or inclement; mild; used of the weather or the climate.
examples: text: Your bank account is now open.
text: Phone lines open at 10 pm.
text: This is the only option open to us.
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Available for use or operation.
examples: text: Banks are not open on bank holidays.
text: Several new shops have opened in Market Street.
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Actively conducting or prepared to conduct business.
examples: text: I hereby declare this fete open.
text: The school has an open day on Saturday.
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Allowing entrance to visitors or the public.
examples: text: I am open to new ideas.
text: Wherefore if Demetrius […] have a matter against any man, the law is open and there are deputies.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 19:38:
text: A U.K. survey found attitudes toward public transit had been set back by two decades, with only 43% of drivers open to using their car less, even if public transport improves.
ref: 2021 April 2, Ciara Nugent, “Can Public Transit Survive the Pandemic? London's New Transport Commissioner Wants You to Believe It Can”, in Time:
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Receptive.
examples: text: open to question; open to attack; open to criticism
text: The service that I truly did his life, / Hath left me open to all injuries.
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Susceptible or vulnerable (to the stated means).
raw_tags: with 'to'
examples: text: I couldn't save my changes because another user had the same file open.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
In current use; connected to as a resource.
qualifier: document
raw_tags: of a file
examples: text: You're getting short of memory because you have too many apps open.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
Running.
qualifier: especially one with a screen-based interface
raw_tags: of a program or application
examples: text: It is a blatant example of open criminality.
text: His thefts were too open.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
text: That I may find him, and with secret gaze / Or open admiration him behold.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Not concealed; overt.
examples: text: Nowadays people are more open about their sexuality.
text: 1731-1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays
with aspect open, shall erect his head
text: The Moor is of a free and open nature.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
text: The French are always open, familiar, and talkative.
ref: 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Due to severe and pervasive discrimination, people dared not be open about their homosexuality, and because no one would be open, social prejudice and discrimination became even stronger.
ref: 2001, Xiaopei He, “Chinese Queer (Tongzhi) Women Organizing in the 1990s”, in Ping-Chun Hsiung, Maria Jaschok, Cecilia Milwertz, Red Chan, editors, Chinese Women Organizing: Cadres, Feminists, Muslims, Queers, Berg, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 41:
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Of a person, not concealing their feelings, opinions, etc.; candid, ingenuous.
examples: text: He published an open letter to the governor on a full page of The New York Times.
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Public.
examples: text: You will observe that this is an open letter and we reserve the right to mention it to the judge should the matter come to trial.
topics: law
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Written or sent with the intention that it may made public or referred to at any trial, rather than by way of confidential private negotiation for a settlement.
raw_tags: of correspondence
examples: text: We hope that all aspects of the project will be open rather than paywalled.
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
With open access, of open science, or both.
examples: text: Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
ref: 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
topics: computing
education
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Made public, usable with a free licence and without proprietary components.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Of a tournament or competition, allowing anyone to enter, especially or originally irrespective of professional or amateur status.
examples: text: Compared to their last match, which was a dour and defensive affair, this was a very open game.
topics: games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Not hidden or restricted.
Characterised by free-flowing play.
examples: text: an open question
text: to keep an offer or opportunity open
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
Not settled; not decided or determined; not withdrawn from consideration.
examples: text: I've got open orders for as many containers of red durum as you can get me.
topics: business
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
Not fulfilled or resolved; incomplete.
examples: text: an open curve, an open circuit
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
Not having one end joined to the other; not forming a closed loop.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
In a position such that a circuit is not completed, preventing electricity from flowing.
raw_tags: of a switch or circuit breaker
topics: graph-theory
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
Having different first and last vertices.
raw_tags: of a walk
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: Not completed or finalised.
Ending in a vowel; not having a coda.
raw_tags: of a syllable
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Having a free variable.
raw_tags: of a formula
topics: mathematics
sciences
topology
glosses: Which is part of a predefined collection of subsets of X, that defines a topological space on X.
raw_tags: of a set
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
qualifier: stringed instruments
glosses: Of a note, played without pressing the string against the fingerboard.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Of a note, played without closing any finger-hole, key or valve.
examples: text: "Supposing somebody sees you, with all those flowers too? Supposing somebody writes him a letter? Ooooh!" (a pure round open Tamil O.)
ref: 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 421:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the articulating organs; said of vowels.
raw_tags: with comparative opener
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply narrowed without closure.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Source code of a computer program that is not within the text of a macro being generated.
raw_tags: used before "code"
glosses: Having component words separated by spaces, as opposed to being joined together or hyphenated; for example, time slot as opposed to timeslot or time-slot.
raw_tags: of a multi-word compound
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Of a club, bat or other hitting implement, angled upwards and/or (for a right-hander) clockwise of straight.
Synonyms: sense: not closed
word: accessible
sense: not closed
word: unimpeded
sense: ending in a vowel
word: free
sense: with a free license and no proprietary components
word: free
Hyponyms: half-open
open-air
open-and-shut
open-armed
open-arse
open-collar
open-door
open-ended
open-eyed
open-face
open-faced
openhanded
open-handed
open-hearted
open-hearth
open-kneed
open-mouthed
open-plan
open-work
Derived terms: at church every time the doors are open
at church every time the doors swing open
blow wide open
break open
clopen
crack open
distinguished open set
double open jaw
drop open
fail open
fauxpen
get open
half-open file
half-open interval
have someone's nose wide open
home open
in church every time the doors are open
in open court
keep an eye open
keep a weather eye open
keep one's ears open
keep one's eyes open
keep one's options open
kick at an open door
kicking at an open door
lay open
leave one's options open
leave the door open
nonopen
one's door is open
openable
open admission
open adoption
open air
open-aired
open air museum
open-air museum
open and affirming
open and notorious
open and shut
open and shut case
open assembly time
open-back
open ball
open banking
open bar
open beta
openbill
open bite
open boarding
open-book
open book
open-book contract
open book decomposition
open box
open-breasted
OpenBSD
open call
open carry
open-carry
opencast
open-cast
open-chain
open circuit
open circuit voltage
open circulatory system
open city
open class
open classroom
open-closed principle
open cluster
open comedo
open comedone
open communion
open compound
open-concept
open content
open convention
open core
open cover
open curve
open dating
open day
open daylight
open defecation
open design
open diapason
open differential
open door
open-door policy
open door policy
open doors
open e
open-ear
open-eared
open-earedness
open-ended contract
open-endedly
open-endedness
open ended straight draw
open-ender
open-end fund
open enrollment
open evangelical
open evangelicalism
open evening
open fan
open feedwater heater
open-field
open field
open-field system
open-field test
open file
open fireplace
open floor plan
open fracture
open game
Open Game
open goal
open ground
open half space
open-hand
openhand
open-handedly
open-handedness
open harp
openhearted
open-heartedly
open-heartedness
open hearth
open-heart surgery
open heart surgery
open house
open housing
open index
open interest
open interval
open invitation
open jaw
open-jaw ticket
open justice
open-kneed breeches
open letter
open listing
open-loop
open loop
open market
open marriage
open matte
open media
open mic
open-mid
open mike
open mind
open-minded
open-mindedly
open-mindedness
open morning
open-neck
open-necked
openness
open-notes
open o
open order
open outcry
open outsourcing
Open PaaS
open-pit mine
open-plan kitchen
open play
open position
open prison
open problem
open proxy
open proxy server
open question
open rate
open razor
open reading frame
open rectangle
open relationship
open-road
open road
open rotor
open sandwich
open sea
open season
open seating
open secret
open set
open-shopper
open-side
openside
open sight
open slather
open sores
open source
open-source
open-sourceness
open sourceror
open space
open sunshine
open syllable
open system
open table
open texture
open-textured
open time
open-toed
open-top bus
open-top
open-topped
open-topper
open tuning
openture
Open University
open valley
open verdict
open visit
open wagon
openwash
open-wash
open wash
open-washing
open washing
openwashing
open water
open-wheel
open-wheel racing
openwork
open world
open wound
over open sights
push against an open door
read like an open book
regular open
Scott-open
semiopen
semi-open file
semi-open game
sleep with one eye open
throw open
unopen
vested remainder subject to open
wide open
with one's eyes open
with open arms
your barn door is open