turnkey
/ˈtɜː(ɹ)nˌkiː/
turnkey adjective: ready to use without further assembly or test; supplied in a state that is ready to turn on and operate (typically refers to an assembly that is outsourced for manufacture).
Adjective
turnkey (comparative more turnkey, superlative most turnkey)
- Ready to use without further assembly or test; supplied in a state that is ready to turn on and operate (typically refers to an assembly that is outsourced for manufacture).
- They wanted a turnkey solution for the entire system, but we could only provide the enclosure.
- Third World countries no longer want to purchase nuclear projects on a turn-key basis; they want to receive advanced technical training as well.1980, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 1980, Kathleen Bailey, When and why weapons; page 42
Noun
turnkey (plural turnkeys)
- A system that is supplied ready to switch on and operate.
- The hardware-software costs are packaged together. Turnkeys are either special purpose (e.g., only for one function such as libraries) or general purpose […]1982, Myron E. Weiner, Human Services Management: Analysis and Applications, page 298
- A warder or jailer; a keeper of the keys in a prison.
- He saw the same Turnkey unfetter a man / With but little expedition, / Which put him in mind of the long debate / On the Slave-trade abolition.1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86
- […]they passed through an open door into a lobby, from which a heavy gate, opposite to that by which they had entered, and which was guarded by a stout turnkey with the key in his hand, led at once into the interior of the prison.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- dub-cove
Verb
turnkey (third-person singular simple present turnkeys, present participle turnkeying, simple past and past participle turnkeyed)
turnkey meaning in Tamil and Kannada
turnkey in Tamil
- முழுமைப்பணி
turnkey in Kannada
- ತಿರುಕೈ
Examples of turnkey in a sentence
- He cautioned that the house “is not turnkey,” and that because it is “so unusual,” it may take a while to sell.2023 March 22, Ben West, “This 835-Year-Old English Manor Needs Some Modern Love”, in The New York Times:
- 'Certainly not,' said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his statement.1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:
Synonyms of turnkey
Forms of turnkey
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more turnkey |
| superlative | most turnkey |
| Noun | |
| plural | turnkeys |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | turnkeys |
| present participle | turnkeying |
| past participle | turnkeyed |
| past | turnkeyed |
Origin of turnkey
From turn + key. (jailer): Compare typologically Russian вертуха́й (vertuxáj) (akin to верте́ть (vertétʹ)).
Words formed from turnkey
Questions about turnkey
- What does turnkey mean?
- Turnkey means ready to use without further assembly or test; supplied in a state that is ready to turn on and operate (typically refers to an assembly that is outsourced for manufacture).
- What is turnkey in Tamil?
- Turnkey in Tamil is முழுமைப்பணி. See Turnkey meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use turnkey in a sentence?
- He cautioned that the house “is not turnkey,” and that because it is “so unusual,” it may take a while to sell.
- What part of speech is turnkey?
- Turnkey can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce turnkey?
- Turnkey is pronounced /ˈtɜː(ɹ)nˌkiː/.
Words near turnkey in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: turnkey (page history and authors); turnkey (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); turnkey (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-turnkey.wav.
Cite this entry: “turnkey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turnkey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.