turnover

/ˌtʌrnˈoʊvər/

/ˈtʌnəʊvə/

Other forms: turnovers

When workers leave their jobs and are replaced by other workers, that's turnover. A totally different kind of turnover is a delicious baked good with a sweet filling.

If an economist is talking about turnover, she probably means the rate at which a business loses employees, or how many jobs they have to fill over the course of a year. If that same economist is placing an order at a bakery, she may instead mean the flaky, triangle-shaped pastry that's wrapped around a fruit filling. In the work world, having a lot of turnover is a negative thing. In the pastry world, a high rate of turnovers doesn't sound bad at all.

Definitions of turnover

1. noun

   the ratio of the number of workers that had to be replaced in a given time period to the average number of workers
   synonyms: employee turnover, turnover rate

   type of:

   ratio

   the relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient)
2. noun

   a dish made by folding a piece of pastry over a filling
   types:

   apple turnover

   turnover with an apple filling

   knish

   (Yiddish) a baked or fried turnover filled with potato or meat or cheese; often eaten as a snack

   pierogi, pirogi, piroshki, pirozhki

   a small dumpling that is boiled, baked, or fried

   samosa

   small turnover of Indian origin filled with vegetables or meat and fried and served hot

   type of:

   dish

   a particular item of prepared food
3. noun

   the volume measured in dollars
   synonyms: dollar volume

   type of:

   bulk, mass, volume

   the property of something that is great in magnitude
4. noun

   the act of upsetting something
   synonyms: overturn, upset

   type of:

   inversion, upending

   turning upside down; setting on end