open-source
adjective
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
Steve Lohr2
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
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
Nick WatersExamples of open-source in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Act turns those concerns into model-weight security, critical safety incident reporting, support for open-source maintainers and research security.
—
Paulo Carvão,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2026
That should benefit open-source model makers such as China's DeepSeek, which have won wide adoption among startups but struggled to break into large businesses due to security concerns.
—
Aditya Soni,
USA Today,
29 June 2026
DeepSeek has said the fourth version of its open-source model is coming in two weeks.
—
Mackenzie Sigalos,
CNBC,
29 June 2026
Microsoft is also exploring hosting open-source models like China’s DeepSeek, as first reported by Axios.
—
Sebastian Herrera,
Fortune,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for open-source
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Paulo Carvão,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2026
That should benefit open-source model makers such as China's DeepSeek, which have won wide adoption among startups but struggled to break into large businesses due to security concerns.
—
Aditya Soni,
USA Today,
29 June 2026
DeepSeek has said the fourth version of its open-source model is coming in two weeks.
—
Mackenzie Sigalos,
CNBC,
29 June 2026
Microsoft is also exploring hosting open-source models like China’s DeepSeek, as first reported by Axios.
—
Sebastian Herrera,
Fortune,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for open-source
Cite this Entry
“Open-source.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open-source. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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