churned

past tense of churn
1
as in swirled
to be in a state of violent rolling motion a churning sea made getting to the island a risky undertaking

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2
as in stirred
to cause (as a liquid) to move about in a circle especially repeatedly churn the cream until it turns into butter

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of churned And what the pair had was their family firm's bubbling de-icers, $400 electric fan-like devices that, when lowered into the sea, churned warmer water up from below to prevent ice from forming. Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025 Visited by thousands of trekkers and climbers, the region around Mount Everest has been blanketed by snow since Monday as a cyclone from the Bay of Bengal churned across India, ushering in a second bout of severe snowfall in the Himalayas this month. Reuters, CNN Money, 29 Oct. 2025 In the past, such a storm would typically have churned up cold water from below the surface and stifled its own growth, according to Andy Hazelton, a hurricane modeler and associate scientist with the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies. Denise Chow, NBC news, 29 Oct. 2025 These waters have not been churned up by any other tropical storms or hurricanes this year. Daniel Orton, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025 Setting a trap with a phone call Leigh’s head spun, and her stomach churned. Charlotte Observer, 2 Oct. 2025 Everybody went to see them, so studios churned more and more out every year until the market was saturated. Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 23 Sep. 2025 The frigid water of the bay churned 220 feet below him. Johnny Dodd, People.com, 24 Aug. 2025 As Hurricane Erin churned off the North Carolina coast this week, its powerful waves destroyed most of the remaining sea turtle nests on Emerald Isle, dealing a blow to what had been shaping up as a successful nesting season. ABC News, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for churned
Verb
  • Rumors have swirled for years that Lexus may choose to replace it with a high-end crossover model like the LF-1 Limitless concept of 2018.
    Will Sabel Courtney, Robb Report, 30 Oct. 2025
  • But suspicions have swirled for years around Russia's Novaya Zemlya archipelago, a remote site off the coast of northern Russia, where more than 100 tests were carried out for decades during the Cold War.
    Davis Winkie, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Christian, gentle and curly-haired, talked of his music while Nat stirred the pot.
    James Marcus, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Whether it’s shaken, stirred, dirty, or dry, the martini remains one of the world’s most iconic and timeless drinks.
    Taryn White, Travel + Leisure, 2 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • The bagels here are boiled and baked and come as Plain, Everything, Sesame and Fennel-and-Orange.
    Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2025
  • As tensions boiled, clashes broke out and federal agents used pepper balls and tear gas, hitting journalists, a pastor and officers with the Chicago Police Department, according to reports and a lawsuit.
    Christopher Cann, USA Today, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The blue tide washed further than most pollsters had predicted.
    David Weigel, semafor.com, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Most garments made of wool, silk, cashmere, mohair, leather, spandex, fleece, or microfiber should not be washed with chlorine bleach.
    Jolie Kerr, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Under intense pressure from all angles, Gonzalez spun with the ball, taking out three men, and found Doku.
    Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
  • For these reasons and others, Duan says that his team has spun HLS into a startup company—Convergency Biotech—with the goal to develop HLS workstations user-friendly enough for any lab.
    Perri Thaler, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • After a Joey Estes fastball came near his head, Robles whirled around and chucked his bat at the pitcher.
    Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Between events, Diamandis whirled around, making and cementing connections.
    Tad Friend, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • His own work seethed with the gritty vernacular of the street, evoking the Sturm und Drang of the Midwestern metropolis.
    News Desk, Artforum, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The result was a gonzo spaghetti Western that seethed with anti-colonialist sentiment and won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Churned.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/churned. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

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