input

input — noun

1. Money, effort, ideas, or other resources that you supply to a project or group t

1.nounB1
Definition

Money, effort, ideas, or other resources that you supply to a project or group to help it work properly.

Example

The charity project needs financial input from local businesses to keep running.

financial input — money contributed to a project

Jisoo's creative input during the team meeting helped solve the packaging problem.

creative input — ideas contributed by a person

Common collocations
  • financial input
  • creative input
  • direct input
  • political input
  • input from someone
  • input into a project
  • input to a system
  • energy input
  • user input
Synonyms
  • contribution

    Broader term; can include time, effort, or money

  • resources

    More concrete; typically refers to physical or financial assets

  • feedback

    Limited to opinions or reactions; not used for money or energy

  • ideas

    Only intellectual contribution, not materials or money

Antonyms
  • output

    What a system produces or delivers

Grammar Patterns

input + into/to + system

possessive + input

input + from + source

Usage Note

Often uncountable when referring to ideas or opinions contributed by people ('we need more input from the community'). May be used as a countable noun in technical or economic contexts ('agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and water').

Common Mistakes

We received many good inputs from the team.
We received a lot of good input from the team.
When referring to ideas or opinions as a general concept, 'input' is uncountable.
The teacher asked for our inputs on the reading assignment.
The teacher asked for our input on the reading assignment.
'Input' meaning 'suggestions/opinions' is treated as uncountable.

2. The physical part of a machine or electronic device where information, electrica

2.nounB1
Definition

The physical part of a machine or electronic device where information, electrical power, or data enters, such as a socket, jack, or port.

Example

The technician plugged the microphone cable into the audio input on the speaker.

audio input — specific type of port

This monitor has both HDMI and VGA input ports for connecting different devices.

input ports — compound noun

Common collocations
  • audio input
  • HDMI input
  • input jack
  • input port
  • input socket
  • input signal
  • input voltage
  • line input
  • power input
Synonyms
  • port

    Standard term for a physical connection point on a device

  • socket

    Common for power connections; less common for data

  • jack

    Specifically for audio or small plugs (e.g. headphone jack)

  • connector

    General term; may refer to either end of a cable

Antonyms
  • output

    The port that sends data or signal out of a device

Grammar Patterns

the + input + noun

input + for/of + noun

Usage Note

Frequently appears in compound nouns such as 'input jack', 'input port', 'input signal', and 'input voltage'. The opposite term is 'output'. Distinguish from noun sense 1: sense 1 refers to the content (resources, ideas), while sense 2 refers to the physical connection point.

Common Mistakes

Plug the charger into the input of the wall socket.
Plug the charger into the wall socket.
The 'input' is on the device receiving power, not on the power source.
I put my ideas through the laptop input.
I typed my ideas using the laptop keyboard.
'Input' as a physical port is for cables/signals, not for human actions.

input — verb

Word family

  • inputting
    nounC1
  • inputter
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe something you give to a process or system, but they differ in scope and connotation. 'Contribution' is the broadest term — it can refer to money, time, effort, or ideas ('her contribution to the project was invaluable'). 'Resources' is more concrete and often limited to physical or financial assets ('the company lacks the resources to expand'). 'Feedback' is narrower and means opinions or reactions offered to improve something ('we received positive feedback from customers'). 'Ideas' is limited to intellectual or creative input ('she brought fresh ideas to the team'). Use 'input' when you want to emphasise that the contribution is being fed into a system or process to produce a result; it carries a more systematic or operational tone than 'contribution'. For example, 'We need more user input to improve the software' sounds more process-oriented than 'We need more user contributions.'

contribution ↗resourcesfeedback ↗ideas

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • input into a system
  • input from users
  • input to a device
  • input on a topic
  • input by voice

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Formed in English by combining the preposition 'in' with the verb 'put', modelled on the earlier word 'output'. First recorded in the mid-1700s in mining and industrial contexts, referring to the amount of coal or material put into a process. The computing sense appeared in the 1940s alongside the development of electronic computers, where it replaced earlier terms like 'data entry' for the act of feeding information into a machine.