the.com/open door
An invitation with no fine print, which is exactly why people get suspicious of it.
means A standing welcome or opportunity to enter, join, or speak freely, without needing special permission each time.
from Straightforward compound of 'open' + 'door' — no hidden Latin roots here. The literal image (a door left unlatched, inviting entry) became figurative early on, giving us 'open-door policy' for trade and immigration by the 19th century, and later the looser, friendlier sense of 'my door is always open' — an offer of access that, as the essence notes, people instinctively check for footnotes.
- policy origin
- Term used in diplomacy since 1899 China trade
- psychology
- Humans trust closed doors more than open ones
- office design
- Supposed to boost collaboration, mostly boosts noise complaints
- metaphor rule
- Only meaningful if someone actually walked through it