output

American  

[out-poot] / ˈaʊtˌpʊt /

noun

1. the act of turning out; production.

   the factory's output of cars; artistic output.

2. the quantity or amount produced, as in a given time.

   to increase one's daily output.

3. the material produced or yield; product.

4. the current, voltage, power, or signal produced by an electrical or electronic circuit or device.

5. Computers.

   1. information in a form suitable for transmission from internal to external units of a computer, or to an outside medium.

   2. the process of transferring data from internal storage to an external medium, as paper or microfilm.

6. the power or force produced by a machine.

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verb (used with or without object)

outputs, present (3rd person singular) outputted, past participle, past outputting present participle

1. Computers. to transfer (information) from internal storage to an external medium.

2. to produce; turn out.

output British  

/ ˈaʊtˌpʊt /

noun

1. the act of production or manufacture

2. Also called: outturn.  the amount produced, as in a given period

   a high weekly output

3. the material produced, manufactured, yielded, etc

4. electronics

   1. the power, voltage, or current delivered by a circuit or component

   2. the point at which the signal is delivered

5. the power, energy, or work produced by an engine or a system

6. computing

   1. the information produced by a computer

   2. the operations and devices involved in producing this information See also input/output

7. (modifier) of or relating to electronic, computer, or other output

   output signal

   output device

   output tax

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verb

1. computing to cause (data) to be emitted as output

output Scientific  

/ out′pt′ /

1. The energy, power, or work produced by a system or device.

2. The information that a computer produces by processing a specific input.

3. Compare input device

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• superoutput
  noun

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have output
  perfect
• have outputted
  perfect
• has outputted
  perfect 3rd person singular
• has output
  perfect 3rd person singular
• has been outputting
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• are outputting
  progressive
• is outputting
  progressive 3rd person singular
• have been outputting
  perfect progressive
• am outputting
  progressive 1st person singular
• outputting
  participle
• outputs
  singular 3rd person

Past

• had output
  perfect
• had outputted
  perfect
• was outputting
  progressive singular
• had been outputting
  perfect progressive
• were outputting
  progressive plural
• output
  participle
• output
  simple
• outputted
  simple
• outputted
  participle

Future

• will output
  simple
• will have output
  perfect
• will have outputted
  perfect
• will be outputting
  progressive
• will have been outputting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of output

First recorded in 1855–60; out- + put

Explanation

If your factory transforms steel into train wheels, your factory's output––what it produces––is train wheels. A country's output is the total quantity of goods it produces. The word input is the opposite of output, but only in the sense of the process––if bananas, milk, and ice cream are the input, the output is a milkshake. But you don't usually talk about input in the aggregate, as something you measure over time for a factory, a company, or a country.

Example Sentences

Output rose 0.4% on month, the first rise since November of last year, Germany’s statistics agency Destatis said Tuesday, compared with an upwardly revised 0.1% fall in March.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

Output among Gulf producers fell by 35% in April from a year earlier to a more-than decade low, according to the International Aluminium Institute, an industry group.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

Output from suppliers was up “double digits” year over year and turnaround times at GE maintenance facilities were improving, Culp tells Barron’s.

From Barron's • May 7, 2026

Output: The total value of goods and services produced by all sectors of the economy - agriculture, manufacturing, energy, construction, the service sector and government.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

Output recovered in   2004, to 3.2% growth, then slowed to 1.7% in 2005 and 2.6% in 2006.

From The 2007 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Related Words

• amount
• crop
• gain
• harvest
• manufacturing
• product
• production
• productivity
• profit
• yield