Open

Part of speech: adjective, verb, adverb

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊ.pən/

Definitions

1. Not closed or blocked, allowing access or passage through
2. Allowing entry or exit without obstruction, not sealed or fastened ; available to be used or entered ; receptive to new ideas or experiences
3. Not shut or confined, permitting movement or communication ; ready for business or operation ; honest and transparent in communication and behavior

Etymology: Open is one of those ordinary words whose deepest meaning is "up." Its ancestor in Proto-Germanic, *upanaz, meant something like "raised up" or "lifted," and the verb "to open" carried the sense of lifting or raising as well. A door that is open has, in effect, been lifted away from the frame, and the same idea of rising up runs through the word's family tree. Its relatives are scattered across the Germanic languages: German offen, Dutch open, Swedish öppen, Icelandic opinn. English "up" comes from the same root, so the two words are close kin. The adjective and the verb both took shape in Old English, the adjective as open and the verb as openian. The noun, meaning an aperture or opening, grew from the verb in Middle English. The sporting sense, as in an "open" tournament, is a later shortening of "open competition," the kind of event anyone may enter.

Synonyms: unlocked, accessible, clear, exposed, available

Antonyms: closed, locked, sealed, blocked, restricted