turning out

Verb

turn out (third-person singular simple present turns out, present participle turning out, simple past and past participle turned out)

1. (copulative, idiomatic, intransitive) To end up; to result.
   • I had hoped our first meeting would turn out better.
2. (intransitive, by ellipsis) To succeed; work out; turn out well.
   • I'm afraid the cake didn't turn out.
3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To attend; show up.
   • Hundreds of people turned out to see the parade.
4. (dated, intransitive) To go out; to leave one's home.
   • But then one of Mr. Knott's men would have had to put on his coat and hat and turn out, as likely as not in the pitch dark, and in torrents of rain in all probability, and grope his way in the dark in the pours of rain, with the pot of food in his hand, a wretched and ridiculous figure, to where...1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC
5. (idiomatic, transitive) To extinguish a light or other device.
   • Turn out the lights before you leave.

   Synonyms:

   turn off, switch out, switch off

6. (idiomatic, intransitive) To become apparent or known, especially (as) it turns out
   • It turns out that he just made a lucky guess.

See all 17 meanings of turn out