turn out

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

: expel, evict

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

Synonyms of turn out

• roll out
• wake
• get up
• rise

Examples of turn out in a Sentence

we turn out early on workdays

it's our practice to turn out the room after guests stay over

Recent Examples on the Web

Both of them turn out to be a fragment of the ATP synthase found in chloroplasts—basically a piece of one of the plant’s own proteins. —Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 3 June 2026

At least Finnegan turned out to be a pretty good get. —Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 3 June 2026

Originally founded by Mama Ninfa Laurenzo in the early 1970s, The Original Ninfa's on Navigation continues to turn out Tex-Mex food to a packed house in the Eado neighborhood. —Melissa Liebling-Goldberg, PEOPLE, 3 June 2026

More than 100,000 fans turned out in Istanbul on Saturday evening to watch Ye’s first performance in Turkey. —ABC News, 3 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1546, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 4a

Rhymes for turn out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

turnout

1 of 2 noun

turn·​out ˈtər-ˌnau̇t 

: 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