open house

American  

noun

• open houses
  plural

1. a party or reception during which anyone who wishes may visit to share in a celebration, meet a special guest, etc.

2. a time during which a school, institution, etc., is open to the public for exhibition or for some specific occasion.

3. a house hospitably open to all friends who may wish to visit it.

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idioms

1. keep open house, to be prepared to entertain visitors at any time.

   They keep open house for artists and writers.

open house British  

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): open day.   at-home.  an occasion on which an institution, such as a school, is open for inspection by the public

2. to be always ready to provide hospitality

3. a house available for inspection by prospective buyers

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• open houses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of open house

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

open house

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said hosting an open house was “an important piece” of winning community buy-in.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

They finally managed to put an offer on a house after attending an open house that was empty.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

"It was an open house... by the end, there were probably 250 people there. It really felt special."

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Carlson was outside a packed open house for a three-bedroom, two-bath condo on Buchanan Street in Pacific Heights.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

With the open house set to start in a few minutes, I realized he couldn’t even attempt to take over the event.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu