turntable
Americannoun
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the rotating disk that spins the record on a phonograph.
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Railroads. a rotating, track-bearing platform pivoted in the center, used for turning locomotives and cars around.
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a rotating stand used in sculpture, metalwork, and ceramics.
noun
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the circular horizontal platform that rotates a gramophone record while it is being played
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a flat circular platform that can be rotated about its centre, used for turning locomotives and cars
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the revolvable platform on a microscope on which specimens are examined
Etymology
Origin of turntable
Explanation
A turntable is an old-fashioned device for listening to music — it's the part of a record player that revolves, turning the record as a needle rests on it. You can use the word turntable interchangeably with "record player" or "phonograph." If you want to listen to LPs, those large, flat discs that store sound recordings in their grooves, you're going to need a turntable. This meaning has been around since the early 20th century. Before that, a turntable was a round, revolving platform used in train yards for turning a railroad car.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The strategy allowed disco DJs to use the longer album versions, erasing the possibility that a turntable needle would drift into the next track.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
While Olympians in Milan walked into a packed stadium with flashing lights and thumping techno music played by a DJ at a turntable that looked like ice, the mountain ceremonies took place through the streets.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
Stereos used to have an amplifier and then a turntable and then speakers and all of these different things.
From Slate • Aug. 13, 2025
The fire brigade said they used turntable and portable ladders to rescue patients, several of whom were elderly and had mobility issues.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2025
A giant turntable that looked a lot like my invention was sitting in the middle of the street!
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
