churn

noun

\ ˈchərn

plural churns

Definition of churn

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a container in which cream is stirred or shaken to make butter

2 : a regular, quantifiable process or rate of change that occurs in a business over a period of time as existing customers are lost and new customers are added The biggest problem they face is churn. Wireless providers lose an average of about 30% of their customers a year to competitors.— Brian O'Reilly also : a similar process or rate of change involving loss and addition of employees, companies, etc. The resulting employment churn—the average job tenure is now two years, and today's typical 32-year-old has held nine different jobs—means more risks as well as more opportunities to discover new paths. — Jamais Cascio

churn

verb

churned; churning; churns

Definition of churn (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to agitate (milk or cream) in a churn in order to make butter The farmer churns his cream every day.

2a : to stir or agitate violently an old stern-wheeler churning the muddy river larger particles pound and churn the Moon's surface— E. M. Shoemaker

b : to make (something, such as foam) by so doing

3 : to make (the account of a client) excessively active by frequent purchases and sales primarily in order to generate commissions unscrupulous brokers may churn an account, trading frequently to generate high commissions— Mary Rowland

intransitive verb

1 : to work a churn (as in making butter)

2a : to produce, proceed with, or experience violent motion or agitation her stomach was churning churning legs

b : to proceed by or as if by means of rotating members (such as wheels or propellers) boats churning across the harbor

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about churn

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Synonyms for churn

Synonyms: Verb

boil, moil, roil, seethe

Examples of churn in a Sentence

Verb

The motorboats churned the water. The water churned all around us. The wheels began to slowly churn. He showed them how to churn butter.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The reason for the staff churn, of course, is that Trump is increasingly refusing to listen to anyone outside his own instincts. — Dara Lind, Vox, "There is always a Trump tweet, chiefs of staff edition," 8 Dec. 2018 The churn in Kansas politics has helped create what experts rate to be two competitive House races in the November general election, which is drawing national Democratic attention. — Andrew Duehren, WSJ, "Kansas Gubernatorial Race Splits GOP," 29 July 2018 Her Twitter account is a steady churn of support and mutual admiration for like-minded liberals, salted with signal boosts of stories about the Flint water crisis, the Israel-Palestine conflict, police brutality, immigration. — Celeste Katz, Glamour, "Rashida Tlaib Isn’t Waiting to Get to Congress to Help Other Women," 20 Sep. 2018 Reducing that churn has become harder as the unemployment rate has dropped and several cities have raised the minimum wage. — Patricia Cohen, New York Times, "Where Companies Welcome Refugees, the More, the Better," 1 Apr. 2018 For all the talk of churn, Trump often expresses frustration with aides and then does not take action. — Zeke Miller, The Seattle Times, "Trump eyeing staffing shakeup in Cabinet and at White House," 13 Nov. 2018 The conditions also led to high rates of teacher turnover, and the instability caused by staff churn ultimately harmed students, Vowels said. — Mandy Mclaren, The Courier-Journal, "Should JCPS pay teachers more if they work in low-performing schools?," 23 June 2018 Storm preparations are involved and arduous even for weather not nearly as vicious as this, not to mention that the constant churn can put sailors on edge at degrees far below 40. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "Watch a Container Ship Roll to a Stomach-Churning 40 Degrees," 23 Aug. 2017 The constant churn of players, the need to sell every season, must be frustrating, even if an unusually large number of players seem to find their way back to Atletico. — Jonathan Wilson, SI.com, "Diego Simeone's Future Enters Focus After Atletico Madrid's Europa League Title," 16 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Things get gloriously gross in Eli Roth’s stomach-churning body horror. — Julie Kosin, Harper's BAZAAR, "The 28 Best Halloween Movies on Netflix," 11 Oct. 2018 When Kate Middleton dipped out of public view, there was just one less harmless distraction from the bleak, ever-churning news cycle that dominates so much of the world. — Elise Taylor, Vogue, "Kate Middleton Is Officially Back on Royal Duty, and Charming the World Again," 2 Oct. 2018 Yet, those four months clearly weren’t enough for the group to churn up any new hits that, from the sounds of Mania, can rival the heights of their previous releases. — Maeve Mcdermott, USA TODAY, "Review: Fall Out Boy's 'Mania' is an unholy mess," 19 Jan. 2018 Everything from exploding stars to the super heated material churning around a black hole can give off X-rays that Chandra can pick up. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "After briefly going offline, NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescope is back in action," 15 Oct. 2018 And there’s a Baldur’s Gate 3 in the works? 2003’s rumor mill is churning hard this week. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "This week in games: Walking Dead resurrected, Baldur's Gate 3 rumors, Into the Breach done quick," 12 Oct. 2018 The Kylie Jenner rumor mill is once again churning and she’s once again here to shut it down. — Emma Sarran Webster, Teen Vogue, "Kylie Jenner Shut Down Travis Scott Breakup Rumors," 19 Aug. 2018 Lyft, which has long trailed Uber in New York City, says it’s concerned about driver churn during the pause. — Johana Bhuiyan, Recode, "Uber and Lyft are fighting a critical battle against New York City — and this time, they might not win," 2 Aug. 2018 Fishermen sit silently on the banks as pleasure boats churn the muddy water. — The Economist, "Brexit is reverberating in British literature," 5 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'churn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for churn

Noun

Middle English chirne, cherne, going back to Old English cirm (erroneously for cirin or cirn), cyrin, going back to Germanic *kernō, kernōn (whence also Middle Dutch keerne, kerne "butter churn," Middle Low German kerne, karne, kirne, Old Norse kirna —in kirnuaskr "churn pail"), of uncertain origin

Verb

Middle English chyrnen, derivative of chirne, cherne churn entry 1

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