turnout

1 of 2

noun

turn·​out ˈtərn-ˌau̇t How to pronounce turnout (audio)
1
: the number of people who participate in or attend an event
a heavy voter turnout
2
a
: a place where something (such as a road) turns out or branches off
b
: a space adjacent to a highway in which vehicles may park or pull into to enable others to pass
c
: a railroad siding
3
: an act of turning out
4
chiefly British
5
: a clearing out and cleaning
6
a
: a coach or carriage together with the horses, harness, and attendants
b
c
: manner of dress : getup
7
: net quantity of produce yielded

turn out

2 of 2

verb

turned out; turning out; turns out

intransitive verb

1
a
: to come or go out from home in or as if in answer to a summons
voters turned out in droves
b
: to get out of bed
2
a
: to prove to be in the result or end
the play turned out to be a flop
it turned out that we were both wrong
b
: to become in maturity
nobody thought he'd turn out like this
c
: end
stories that turn out happily

transitive verb

1
: to put out by or as if by turning a switch
turn out the lights
2
: to produce often rapidly or regularly by or as if by machine
a writer turning out stories
3
a
: to turn inside out
turning out his pockets
b
: to empty the contents of especially for cleaning or rearranging
also : clean
4
a
b
: to put (an animal, such as a horse) to pasture
5
: to equip, dress, or finish in a careful or elaborate way
6
: to call (a guard, a company, etc.) out from rest or shelter and into formation

Examples of turnout in a Sentence

Noun The opening game of the season brought only a small turnout. a 50 percent voter turnout Verb we turn out early on workdays it's our practice to turn out the room after guests stay over
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
While Black voters are unlikely to support Trump in significant numbers in November, a lack of turnout could prove just as fatal for Biden's reelection campaign. Joey Cappelletti, Quartz, 14 Mar. 2024 Of course, the henchmen aren’t stupid enough to simply report a round number of 85.0 percent turnout. Brian Klaas, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2024 And as Times columnist Erika D. Smith pointed out, the final turnout for this week’s election is projected to be even lower. Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024 For example, the movie with the highest Black audience share was The Color Purple (69 percent), while Asians drove turnout for Joy Ride and Latinos for Insidious: The Red Door. Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024 Low turnout and a more conservative primary electorate likely helped the Republicans along. Lindsey Holden, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2024 By early Wednesday morning, county election officials had tallied more than 425,000 ballots, which would make for turnout of 22 percent. Emily Alvarenga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2024 But in a presidential primary with no real competition at the top of the ticket, she likely was hurt by lower-than-usual voter turnout and a lack of engagement among younger voters and voters of color, two of her key constituencies. Marisa Lagos, NPR, 5 Mar. 2024 Paul Mitchell, California’s go-to expert on voting patterns, notes that a week before the March 5 primary, only 1.7 million ballots had been received by county election offices and projected that this year’s primary would set an all-time record for low turnout, 29%. Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2024
Verb
But the race turned out to be an exciting one, with Charles Leclerc scoring pole position in his Ferrari, and Max Verstappen starting second. Brad Spurgeon, Robb Report, 11 Mar. 2024 For months, makeup artists, hairstylists, manicurists and more have been turning out one eye-catching beauty look after another for their clients. Jackie Fields, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024 On the red carpet, celebrities turned out in their many takes on metallics, from chainmail to paillettes. Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 11 Mar. 2024 In the end, the campaign in favor of the measures was rushed and disjointed, confusion reigned over the language presented in the proposals and less than half of eligible voters turned out to the polls. Megan Specia, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2024 This will turn out to be just a dream Dick’s having in jail, but his waking life looks hardly less fanciful. Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Mar. 2024 Both Pat Cotham and Leake told the Observer their final message to voters ahead of the primary is to turn out and vote. Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 29 Feb. 2024 Very likely, indigenous and other forms of local knowledge will often turn out to be more important than science. James Broughel, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 There are even times when the grift—accidental or otherwise—turns out to be real anyway. Byallie Garfinkle, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'turnout.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1688, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Verb

1546, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 4a

Time Traveler
The first known use of turnout was in 1546

Dictionary Entries Near turnout

Cite this Entry

“Turnout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turnout. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

turnout

1 of 2 noun
turn·​out ˈtər-ˌnau̇t How to pronounce turnout (audio)
: the number of people who attend or who do something (as vote)
a good turnout at the meeting
expected a light voter turnout

turn out

2 of 2 verb
ˌtər-ˈnau̇t,
ˈtər-
1
: to put or empty out of a container
2
: to make by or as if by machine
the factory turns out automobiles
turns out a new story every month
3
: turn off sense 2
who turned out the light?
4
: to come or go out from home
thousands turned out to see them
5
: to prove to be
it turned out to be only the cat
of course, I turned out to be right

More from Merriam-Webster on turnout

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