openness means 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. It carries an Arena rating of 1498, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, openness ranks #928 of 17,052 for Most Malleable Words, #6,708 of 17,052 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #7,961 of 17,052 for Most Sublime Words, #8,033 of 17,052 for Most Beautiful Words.
Why “openness” is a great word
A quality or state of being open, encompassing accessibility, candor, and receptivity. From Middle English *opennesse*, from Old English *openness* ('openness, publicity'), equivalent to *open* ('not closed or blocked') + *-ness* ('state, quality'), and cognate with Old High German *offannussi* ('disclosure, revelation, openness'). Unlike candor, which speaks with a singular, sharp honesty, or receptivity, which waits to receive, openness is the broader architecture of unguardedness: the unshuttered window, the door left ajar, the hand that opens not to grasp but to offer. It is the scent of rain on dry earth rising to meet you, the quiet courage of a diary left face-up, the pause before judgment when something unfamiliar arrives—an acknowledgment that to be closed is to be finished, and to remain open is to remain unfinished, and therefore alive.
Etymology
From Middle English *opennesse, from Old English openness (“openness, publicity”), equivalent to open + -ness. Cognate with Old High German offannussi (“disclosure, revelation, openness”).
noun
- 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.e.g.“Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis.”
- The degree to which a person, group, organization, institution, or society exhibits this liberal attitude or opinion.
- Lack of secrecy; candour, transparency.
- 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.
- 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.
Words closest in meaning
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