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

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

Past

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

Future

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

Earlier on Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, approved an increase in July crude output.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 7, 2026

But even if the cartel members vow to ramp up output by thousands of barrels per day, analysts say geopolitical realities mean they probably won't move the needle on prices.

From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026

Growing up, I was a Pixar evangelist, obsessed with the studio’s excellent output.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026

The country’s annual economic output was smaller than that of several European nations with considerably smaller populations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

The Betas mixed that with the output of K-25 and the thermal columns to turn out 204 grams of uranium per day enriched to 80 percent U-235.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

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