openbaar

Openbaar is a Dutch adjective meaning public or accessible to the general public. It is used to describe institutions, services, and spaces that are owned, funded, or governed by the state, or intended for use by everybody. Common collocations include openbaar vervoer (public transport), openbare ruimte (public space), and Openbaar Ministerie (Public Prosecution Service).

Etymology and usage notes: Openbaar combines the concept open with the suffix -baar, roughly conveying that something is open or available to the public. In ordinary text, adjectives inflect to match the noun they modify (for example, openbare ruimte or openbare school), but in many established phrases the base form openbaar is retained, such as in openbaar vervoer. In proper names, the word can appear capitalized as Openbaar when part of a fixed institution name, most notably Openbaar Ministerie.

Institutional and legal context: In the Netherlands and, where applicable, Dutch-language contexts, opens the term is widely used for state-run services and public governance. The Openbaar Ministerie, or Public Prosecution Service, is a central authority responsible for directing criminal investigations and prosecutions, operating within the judiciary rather than as a private body. Other examples include openbaar vervoer (public transport) and openbare orde (public order), reflecting the public or state-supported character of the entities or concepts.

Relation to related terms: The word publiek is closely related but distinct in nuance. Publiek often refers to the general public as people or audiences or to the idea of public life, whereas openbaar emphasizes accessibility, public ownership, or official/public-sector status in a more formal or legal context. Openbaar commonly marks state or publicly accessible domains, while privé or particulier denote private ownership or private contexts.