open-source

[oh-puh n-sawrs, -sohrs]

adjective

Computers. pertaining to or denoting software whose source code is available free of charge to the public to use, copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute.
pertaining to or denoting a product or system whose origins, formula, design, etc., are freely accessible to the public.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for open-source

Contemporary Examples of open-source

Consequently, there were soon scores of wiki sites as well as open-source improvements to his software.
You Can Look It Up: The Wikipedia Story
Walter Isaacson
October 19, 2014
Nor did Microsoft transform its proprietary operating system into open-source code.
Tesla’s Radical Patent Move is a Plot to Take Over the Road
Daniel Gross
June 15, 2014
So long as Rozendaal continues to work in open-source code, the answer seems to be: forever.
Would You Buy an Internet Website as Art?
Jessica Dawson
June 3, 2014
For a long time, Firefox had the cool cache of being an free, open-source alternative browser.
OkCupid Keeps Up Its Firefox Boycott for CEO’s Anti-Gay Stance
Gregory Ferenstein
April 1, 2014
The study is drawn entirely from open-source information, but often involving research in relatively denied areas.
Aleppo Conflict Map Shows Assad’s Control By Neighborhood
David Kilcullen, Nate Rosenblatt
March 10, 2014

open-source in Science

open-source

Relating to source code that is available to the public without charge. Open-source code is often enhanced, improved, and adapted for specific purposes by interested programmers, with the revised versions of the code are made available to the public. For example, most of the code in the Linux operating system is open-source.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.