TURN BACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does turn back mean? 

• TURN BACK (verb)
  The verb TURN BACK has 5 senses:

1. retrace one's course

2. go back to a previous state

3. force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings

4. hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of

5. turn inside out or upside down

  Familiarity information: TURN BACK used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TURN BACK (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Retrace one's course

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

backtrack; double back; turn back

Context example:

The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back

Hypernyms (to "turn back" is one way to...):

return (go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go back to a previous state

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

regress; retrovert; return; revert; turn back

Context example:

We reverted to the old rules

Hypernyms (to "turn back" is one way to...):

change by reversal; reverse; turn (change to the contrary)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "turn back"):

fall back; lapse; recidivate; regress; relapse; retrogress (go back to bad behavior)

resile (return to the original position or state after being stretched or compressed)

go back; recover; recuperate (regain a former condition after a financial loss)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

chase away; dispel; drive away; drive off; drive out; run off; turn back

Context example:

The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers

Hypernyms (to "turn back" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Verb group:

drive out; force out; rouse; rout out (force or drive out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "turn back"):

fire (drive out or away by or as if by fire)

clear the air (dispel differences or negative emotions)

banish (drive away)

shoo; shoo away; shoo off (drive away by crying 'shoo!')

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

arrest; check; contain; hold back; stop; turn back

Context example:

Turn back the tide of communism

Hypernyms (to "turn back" is one way to...):

defend (be on the defensive; act against an attack)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "turn back"):

cut down; cut out (intercept (a player))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Turn inside out or upside down

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

invert; reverse; turn back

Hypernyms (to "turn back" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

We must go on, because we can't turn back.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

This worried Dorothy a little, but she knew that only the Great Oz could help her get to Kansas again, so she bravely resolved not to turn back.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

There was nothing for it, but to turn back and begin all over again.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“It does not matter,” thought she: “when we turn back, I shall be so much nearer home than he.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mary exclaimed, "Bless me! here is Winthrop. I declare I had no idea! Well now, I think we had better turn back; I am excessively tired."

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He lit the two candles which stood upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner of the carpet in the neighbourhood of the door.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Growing sunflowers begin the day with their heads facing east, swing west through the day, and turn back to the east at night.

(Sunflowers move from east to west, and back, by the clock, NSF)

From that direction the place is really inaccessible, and, were it not for a hardish ledge which runs at the very base of the precipice, we should have had to turn back.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Chagrined and surprised, they were obliged, though unwillingly, to turn back, for no shelter was nearer than their own house.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“Then pray let us turn back; they will certainly meet with an accident if we go on. Do let us turn back, Mr. Thorpe; stop and speak to my brother, and tell him how very unsafe it is.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)