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Definition 2024


churn_out

churn out

English

Verb

churn out (third-person singular simple present churns out, present participle churning out, simple past and past participle churned out)

  1. (transitive, informal) To produce a large quantity of (something) rapidly and easily.
    • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC:
      Yet another seriously under-par performance is unlikely to provide any real answers to their remarkable plummet in form - but it proves they can at least churn out a much-needed result.
    • 2013 August 10, A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
    Barbara Cartland was renowned for her ability to churn out romantic novels.

Usage notes

  • This term can imply an emphasis of quantity over quality, and as such can be disparaging.

Translations