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hackathon

American  
[hak-uh-thon] / ˈhæk əˌθɒn /

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.


Etymology

Origin of hackathon

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Besides meeting with the AI labs, Steinberger spoke at a fireside chat and judged a Codex hackathon at OpenAI.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 18, 2026

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.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 14, 2025

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

From Science Daily Oct. 25, 2023

If the public remains stuck on the decoding process, she says her team will likely organize an online hackathon later in August.

From Scientific American Aug. 3, 2023

One unit ran a "hackathon," or collaborative engineering event, exploring how to imbue generative AI into its product for fighting financial crime, Peterson said, adding the technology could create investigative reports.

From Reuters Jul. 11, 2023

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