hackathon

[hak-uh-thon]

noun

Digital Technology.

1. a usually competitive event in which people work in groups on software or hardware projects, with the goal of creating a functioning product by the end of the event.

   At the hackathon our team produced an app that helps you monitor your sleeping habits.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hackathon¹

1995–2000; hack ¹ ( def. ) + -athon ( def. )

Example Sentences

The company’s co-founder Sean Rad, a USC dropout, presented the idea for a dating app, originally called Matchbox, at a startup incubator’s hackathon.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Kausas spent part of a recent Saturday speaking at a hackathon.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Working with Unesco, Dr Tabiri will also host a week-long "Quantum Hackathon" in July at Aims-Ghana for about 40 post-graduate students from different African countries.

Read more on BBC

The new A.I. program, the largest of its kind in the United States, takes a novel approach in a tech industry whose recruiting criteria — technical interviews, hackathon wins, internal employee referrals, previous internships — often advantage wealthier students at top universities.

Read more on New York Times

Recently, a team at a tech event called a hackathon applied deep learning to weather forecasting.

Read more on Science Daily