Jump To:

• open air
  open air

  noun

  the outdoors.
• open-air
  open-air

  adjective

  existing in, taking place in, or characteristic of the open air; outdoor.

open air

¹ American  

noun

1. the outdoors.

---

open-air ² American  

[oh-puhn-air] / ˈoʊ pənˈɛər /

adjective

1. existing in, taking place in, or characteristic of the open air; outdoor.

   The orchestra gave three open-air concerts last summer.

---

open air British  

noun

1. 1. the place or space where the air is unenclosed; the outdoors

   2. ( as modifier )

      an open-air concert

---

Other Word Forms

• open-airishness
  noun
• open-airness
  noun
• open-airish
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of open air¹

First recorded in 1520–30

Origin of open-air²

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

open air open-air

Unlike in 1986, when many of the artifacts, especially the elephant tusks, decomposed after being exposed to the open air, Ran improvised a new system for the dig.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

It was not as though the open air of a farmers market was going to cure my base shopping instincts.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

The official statistics are essentially the number of people sleeping or about to bed down in the open air or in buildings not designated for habitation, such as car parks, on a single night.

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026

The dump, which is partly open air, attracts large numbers of scavenger birds.

From Barron's ● May 12, 2026

Bod sat in the open air on the top of the hill and held the brooch.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

Lake recently ended his string of open-air summer concerts, where he transformed spots like the underbelly of a New York bridge, Chicago’s Navy Pier and L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Police are operating an office in an open-air courtyard to assist with body identification.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Each fall, ArtPrize — one of the world’s largest international art competitions — transforms the entire downtown into an open-air gallery.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Staff pushed furniture aside and crammed into the cafeteria inside the company’s sleek, open-air headquarters as executives took the stage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

The open-air bus terminal was packed with people shouting, laughing, and arguing.

From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman