openness

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English

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Etymology

From Middle English *opennesse, from Old English openness (“openness, publicity”), equivalent to open +‎ -ness. Cognate with Old High German offannussi (“disclosure, revelation, openness”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

openness (usually uncountable, plural opennesses)

  1. Accommodating attitude or opinion, as in receptivity to new ideas, behaviors, cultures, peoples, environments, experiences, etc., different from the familiar, conventional, traditional, or one's own.
    • 2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian‎:
      Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis.
  2. The degree to which a person, group, organization, institution, or society exhibits this liberal attitude or opinion.
  3. Lack of secrecy; candour, transparency.
    • 2005 September 27, Brian Lavery, “I.R.A. Destroys What It Says Were the Last of Its Weapons”, in The New York Times‎:
      "Instead of openness, there was the cunning tactics of cover-up and a complete failure by General De Chastelain to deal with the vital numerics of decommissioning," said Ian Paisley, 79, the Protestant preacher who heads the Democratic Unionists, Northern Ireland's largest party.
  4. (computing, education) The degree of accessibility to view, use, and modify in a shared environment with legal rights generally held in common and preventing proprietary restrictions on the right of others to continue viewing, using, modifying and sharing.
  5. (systems theory) The degree to which a system operates with distinct boundaries across which exchange occurs capable of inducing change in the system while maintaining the boundaries themselves.

Synonyms

Translations

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