Meaning & use
the throughput
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnicalbusiness
The amount of work, material, or data that a system, machine, or organization can process in a certain time.
Grammar: Uncountable: use 'the throughput' or 'high throughput', not 'a throughput'.
Patterns
- high throughput
- low throughput
- increase throughput
- throughput of something
The new software increased the throughput of the server by 40 percent.
Factory managers are trying to raise throughput without hiring more staff.
We measured the throughput of the network during peak hours.
noununcountabletechnicalbusiness
The number of patients, customers, or items that pass through a place or process in a given period.
Grammar: Uncountable: 'the hospital's throughput' means the total number handled, not one specific group.
Patterns
- patient throughput
- customer throughput
- daily throughput
The hospital's throughput doubled after they opened the new wing.
We need to improve customer throughput at the checkout.
The airport's daily throughput reached 100,000 passengers.
Common combinations
- high throughput
- The lab needs high throughput to test thousands of samples a day.
- increase throughput
- They bought new machines to increase throughput.
- throughput of the system
- The throughput of the system dropped when too many users logged on.
- data throughput
- Data throughput is limited by the speed of the connection.
Synonyms and how they differ
- capacity
- Capacity is the maximum amount something can hold or produce; throughput is the amount actually processed in a period.
- output
- Output is the total amount produced; throughput often emphasizes the flow or rate through a system.
- productivity
- Productivity measures how efficiently work is done, often per worker; throughput is a raw measure of volume per time.
Word family
- through preposition
- From one side or end to the other.
- put through phrasal verb
- To connect a phone call, or to make someone experience something.
Commonly confused: the throughput or output?
the throughput vs output
Output is the total amount produced, while throughput is the amount that passes through a system in a given time. A factory can have high output but low throughput if products wait a long time.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'throughput' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Throughput' is uncountable, so it is used with 'its' or 'the' and no plural -s. Options with 'a' or 'throughputs' are wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “the throughput”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.